Healing
by elisesdean
Summary: TRIPLE CROSSOVER FIC WITH "HOUSE" AND "MIAMI MEDICAL." On the day of Emma's presentation as a baby princess and the new heir to the White throne, the Evil Queen crashes the party and gives a present of her own.
1. Chapter 1

**THIS STORY CONTAINS CHARACTERS FROM "HOUSE M.D.," "MIAMI MEDICAL," AND "ONCE UPON A TIME."**

**YES. THIS IS A TRIPLE CROSSOVER FIC. I HAVE ONLY CATEGORIZED IT AS "ONCE" BECAUSE YOU'RE ONLY ALLOTED TWO CATEGORIES WHEN POSTING AND I COULDN'T PICK ONLY TWO, SO I DECIDED TO CATEGORIZE IT AS "ONCE" SINCE IT IS THE MAIN FRAME OF THE STORY.**

**AN: This is actually an original idea I've had for quite a while and decided it was time to get it done.**

**I have taken direct lines/scenes from all three shows involved. And probably will continue to do so.**

All the leaders of the allied lands and the noble people of the White kingdom came for the White Princess's presentation.

Snow and Charming sat in their thrones, a courtly bassinet between them, the baby inside. Charming stroked his darling daughter's cheek before grinning wide to his wife. He let his hand fall over the baby girl's stomach.

Snow reached out, placing her hand over his as she looked to the princess lovingly.

The king leaned to the side so his wife could hear, "I suppose we should get this over with, hm?"

Snow looked at the large crowd that had taken over the room. "Yes, I suppose we should."

Charming stood and clapped his hands once then rubbed them together, drawing the attention of every person at the presentation. He looked out among faces, most unfamiliar before he started, "Friends, honored guests… It is time we present you with a princess. She is fair as her mother—"

"And already stubborn as her father." Snow interrupted, causing the crowd to collectively laugh.

Charming chuckled with the crowd before he turned to their guests once more, "Please, let us present Emma Swan White, Princess of the White kingdom."

Snow held the baby in the air and the crowd bowed to the new princess before giving a riotous applause.

"Let us start with the giving of gifts!" Thomas and a wildly pregnant Ella walked up as Snow put the baby back in the bassinet.

As each of the royals and nobles began cluttering the thrones with presents, a voice boomed throughout the large room, "Sorry I'm late."

Everyone began looking around. As purple smoke began forming in the center of the throne room, everyone moved out of the way, fearing what was coming next.

Snow and Charming both stood, Snow in front of the bassinet and Charming in front of Snow. Both giving the evil witch glares, "You're wasting your time. You've already lost. And I will not let you ruin my child's presentation."

Regina looked offended as she walked in a circle, making the crowd back further from her in fear, "I haven't come to ruin anything!" She turned to the king, looking him in the eye, "On the contrary, dear, I've come to give you a gift."

"We want _nothing_ from you! Why do you think you weren't invited?"

"I simply thought that an oversight." The evil queen started light and sarcastic before her tone hardened and she glared at the other woman, "You _shall_ have a gift!" She extended her hand, grasped the air and pulled. It magically moved towards Regina, but when Charming and Snow both put themselves in front of the bassinet, she was forced to take action. She simply pointed to the two of them then to their thrones as she said, "You two. There." Causing them to magically move out of her way.

The evil queen smiled regal as ever as the bassinet finally landed in front of her. She bent down and looked at the cherubic, smiling face of the princess, "Aren't you precious?" her tone was unmistakably snide as she stuck her hand inside the basket to trace the baby's face.

The King and Queen broke their magical holds quickly; Charming immediately had his sword drawn and Snow took his sheathed knife from his belt.

Regina pulled her hand back, holding her hands in surrender, "I'm not going to hurt her." She smirked as she looked back down to the baby, "No, I'm not." The index finger of her right hand began glowing a rich goldenrod as she kissed the pad of it. She then knelt back down and looked at the baby.

Emma clapped and wiggled in the basket as she saw the glowing finger. She tried to reach out and touch it, and Regina let her grasp onto her finger. She traced the baby's features again as she began speaking a foreign language.

"She's casting a curse of some sort!" Some noble who always stated the obvious yelled.

Emma's tiny hand gripped the evil queen's finger tight completely mesmerized by the light. Regina stroked the small fingers that clutched almost desperately as Emma tried to get the glowing finger to her mouth. Regina finished the incantation and looked up to the king and queen with a wicked smirk then tapped Emma's nose and lips with the glowing finger.

A golden burst of energy erupted from the White Princess and the Evil Queen's clasped hands.

"GUARDS!" Charming yelled, calling for the knights to come after the queen.

Regina smiled that wicked smile as she magically pushed the bassinet back to Snow and Charming and poofed away just as a brave knight tried to run her through from behind.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Dr. Allison Cameron had been working for House for a little over a year. She'd had a fulfilling life; she'd loved and lost, she'd become a doctor. But, she wasn't fulfilled. Some part of her was always missing.

Her other half; her soul mate was missing.

She always thought of her as her soul mate. She knew she'd never seen her in this life before, and she wasn't one to rule anything out—except God. She'd been screwed over too many times to believe in just _one_ alpha and omega. She was never sure what she believed, but she knew that she'd dreamed of the same woman her whole life: the scar on her luscious lips, the brown eyes that she could get lost in, the smile that could brighten a room, the legs that seemed to go for days and the body they were attached to, and then there was that voice. That voice that held so much emotion.

Allison Cameron didn't believe in a lot, but she believed that she and her dream woman were intimately connected in some way. There was no other explanation for it. Why would she dream of a woman that she'd never seen? How could she do that? It was proven impossible, but she knew, she believed that there was no other explanation. This woman was her soul mate. And she wasn't sure she would ever find her, but she always had her in her dreams. She always seemed to make life less taxing. She was beautiful, she was a queen, she was Regina. That's the only thing she knew about the other woman: her name was Regina.

And that's the name she was saying as she was shaken awake by the Australian next to her.

"Who's Regina?" He asked in a low, calming voice.

Allison sat up in her bed and looked around then to her lap. After realizing she was naked, she pulled the sheet back over her chest, "No one. You should leave."

"I should leave?" He had that boyish smile gracing his face before he sobered, "You called me here… I just want to make sure you're all right…"

"I'm fine."

"Cameron, you were…" He stared at the brunette woman, "_Are_ high…"

Allison's moves were jerky as she pulled the sheet tighter around her, "I'm coming down, calming down. You need to go." She looked anywhere but to the other doctor.

"Cameron—"

"Chase." She finally looked the general direction of his face. "Leave. Please."

Chase wasn't one to argue with anyone. He quickly moved from the bed, put his clothes on and gathered his jacket, "You know you need to get tested, right? The odds are slim to none—"

"I know the odds."

"You were exposed to HIV. Get the test. Get clarity." He stared at the woman a bit longer before he left.

Allison laid back down and stared at the ceiling. Chase was no Regina. No one could compare to Regina, not even her dead husband. But she didn't know where Regina was. And there was no way to find her. So, she tried to love other people. She tried to love House—that didn't go past a seventh date (though no one would ever know about the second through their last, not even Wilson). She considered moving to Africa to aid Dr. Sebastian Charles in his trying to cure TB in third world countries; that ended before it started. And after Kalvin coughed blood onto her face, in her eyes and mouth, she needed something.

She drug-napped the hospital and got high. Then she called the one person that she knew would take advantage of the situation and would let her take advantage of him: Dr. Robert Chase. She had to kiss him a total of three times before he decided he didn't care that she was high and had been exposed to HIV before he took her to bed.

She felt nothing. She still felt nothing. The only time she felt anything was when she dreamed of Regina and when she got involved in her patient's cases.

Her alarm went off, and she decided to try for a quick shower before going in to face the day.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Dr. Eva Zambrano had gone through med school, had gone through her surgical internship, her surgical residency and was finally able to call herself a board certified trauma surgeon. When she applied for Miami Medical, she never thought that she'd actually be able to work in the number 1 trauma center, but she was.

She was living the dream, living her dream.

But like her entire life, something felt off. She felt a sense of emptiness, a sense of loss.

She thought that after all these years that her first shift would finally fulfill her, but she walked to her car, exhausted, having brought four people back for good from their golden hour, and she still felt that loss. She'd dated around, but never had a serious relationship; she was too motivated on becoming a surgeon, and now that she was, she knew there was going to be no time for a relationship.

There was going to be no time for _her_.

She drove home after her first 48 hours on the job and pushed that sense of loss down. She took a quick shower, getting the smell of trauma and hospital off of her before she settled in her sheets.

Emma was many things. She was stubborn and annoying. She was witty and intelligent. She was bright and sunshiny and fluffy. She was a badass and a teddy bear. She was an enigma. Emma was a princess, but not the kind that you usually picture. She didn't like her dresses, she preferred pants and a sword over ruffles and lace. Emma courted Eva. She danced with her at the balls they would go to, she protected her from her never ending nightmares—she always came for her to make sure Eva slept peacefully. She was everything Eva wanted, and nothing Eva could ever find in life.

Her alarm started sounding and she half expected to feel kisses trailing along her bare back as she snuggled into her sheets a bit more. But she felt nothing as she became fully awake. And she remembered she wasn't naked and the other half of her bed was cold.

She pushed herself up and shook her head from her dreaming mind. Ridding Emma from her thoughts was always a taxing project that never seemed to fully work. But she was going to have to, if she was going to do her job.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"What is it, my Queen?" The genie asked from his prison in the mirror. He'd appeared after Regina turned away from watching her other self.

"Why am I unhappy in that realm?"

It was a rhetorical question and the Genie knew that.

"It was supposed to work." She stood and marched down the hallway to her study.

"She seems happy. She's doing what she wants to do in life…" He tried to sooth the temperamental queen.

"Mmm." Regina nodded as she looked through a book in vainhope that something would make it clear, "If only we could all feel joy from doing what we want in life." She threw the book across the room in sudden anger, "She's not happy!"

"How do you know that?"

"Because she's me! She's not happy. Not completely. I can see it in her face!" She slumped into her study chair and waved her hand, "Go away, Genie. I want to be alone."

The Genie knew better than to try and stay and make sure she was alright. She would break one of his mirrors for sure when she was in this frantic, angry, depressed mood.

"I was supposed to be happy…" she whispered aloud as she hugged herself, "Part of me was supposed to be happy."

**AN: I hope you liked! Thoughts and feels? Continue? I have more for this story. A lot more. Just let me know!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This one is different than I believe the rest of the chapters will be as it doesn't involve both worlds. It's only a 7-year-old Emma in FTL. It's a lengthy bit of an exposition dump regarding Emma. Though I hope I've made it entertaining enough that you wouldn't have noticed the exposition dump had I not just told you…**

"When are they gonna be here?!" a seven-year-old Emma whined as she paced the foot of the bed in her parent's bedchamber.

"Any minute, my darling." Snow smirked.

Emma always got a little too excited when waiting for her best friend to come over. She and Alexandra were the little princesses that had their kingdoms' and every kingdom's hearts.

A knock sounded on the door, "Your majesty?" a maid came in, "They're here."

"They're here?" Emma looked wide-eyed at the maid, who nodded. The blonde princess then darted passed the woman and ran down the hall so she would be able to greet her friend as soon as she got out of her carriage.

"Are they here, princess?" Charming soon came behind his daughter and squatted to be at her level.

"Yeah." Emma nodded.

"Are you and Alexandra going to play and not try to sneak off like you did last time?"

"ALEXANDRA!" Emma jumped up and down, clapping her hands, her father's question completely lost on her.

"EMMA!" a six-year-old Alexandra tried to wiggle out of Thomas's grasp after seeing her friend.

Emma ran down the steps and took Alexandra's hand when the other princess's father set her down, and they ran back up the steps. "Come on! Let's go play outside!" Emma gave her friend a smile as the two girls made their way through the castle.

The two princesses were playing in the back garden. Both had on their pretend armor. Emma had a wooden shield and sword, and Alexandra had a wooden battle-axe—the two were made to trade off every time they played. The entrance to the labyrinth was always enticing, but they weren't allowed to go without an adult.

The two girls were playing what they liked to call, 'Evil Queen'. They would fight epic battles and try to defeat the Evil Queen they had heard so many stories about. They both knew that their parents fought side by side against her. And they both knew that the Evil Queen had some sort of tiff with Emma's mom, but they didn't know much aside from that except that they'd finally defeated her and vanquished her—at least they weren't supposed to know much more than that.

Emma was in the middle of battling a dragon when she stopped and stared at the entrance of the labyrinth.

"Emma! Watch out for da dragon!" Alexandra cried. "Emma!"

Emma turned and ran behind a bench in the garden, ducking for cover. Alexandra somersaulted, ducking a blow of fire no doubt, before running to take cover from the dragon with her friend.

"Emma, what's wrong?"

"The queen is close." Emma whispered, staring at the entrance. "She's in her castle." She pointed to the labyrinth.

"But Emma…. Dat's the forbidden lands… the forest always changes and makes you go in circles. It's a trick."

"The only way we can defeat her is if we defeat _her_ not her dragon, not her evil knights. Her. Alexandra, we have to for the sake of good. For the sakes of our peoples!"

Alexandra gave her a serious look before she relented, "You're right."

Emma smiled as she secured her shield on her arm, "Let's go." She sheathed her sword in the loop in her belt and offered her hand to Alexandra.

Alexandra took Emma's hand and dragged the smoothed, wooden blades of her battle-axe behind her.

They'd wound around the maze a while when they heard a noise.

"What was that?" Alexandra jumped and squeezed Emma's hand tight.

"Nothing." Emma knew to be brave for Alexandra because she always got scared in the labyrinth, "Let's go."

"Is it the evil queen?" Alexandra whispered.

Emma looked around in thought, taking every little thing in before shaking her head, "No."

A bird flew from its nest in the maze's wall a few feet in front of them, causing Emma to put her shield up and try to protect both her friend and herself.

Alexandra broke character, "Wow. You're really brave."

Emma gave the other princess a grin, "My Daddy says I should only be brave when I have to be."

Alexandra smiled, "He's smart."

Emma nodded, "Yeah…" She dug her foot in the ground, "Let's go find the queen."

"Yeah!"

They started off once more and wound their way to the very center of the labyrinth.

Emma stopped Alexandra from walking, "Shh." She put her finger over her mouth, "She doesn't know we're here…"

Alexandra nodded and they tiptoed into the center of the large hedge maze, keeping their backs against the hedge. The center was graced with a large, elegant weeping willow that seemed to take over the small koi pond originally meant to be the main attraction. It also had a long curved bench around the pond.

Emma stared passed the tree to the middle of the bench. She squinted her eyes and tilted her head. She saw the seven-year-old evil queen they had been chasing down since Alexandra got there. She saw her lying there on what Emma decided was her bed, waiting to be defeated. Some unidentifiable pull ran rampant throughout Emma's veins and she knew what the queen was doing, "She's surrendering…"

Alexandra looked to her friend as she pushed off the hedge, "Why?" She stayed planted against the edge.

Emma walked carefully around to the head of the queen. She kneeled before her, "Why?" She whispered her question as she touched one of the hands resting on the imaginary queen's stomach. Brown, enchanting eyes stared back at her, answering the question for Emma. Emma looked down as if she were ashamed, "She has nothing left to fight for." She looked over to the other little princess.

"Nothing left to fight for?"

"Yeah… everything she's ever loved has been taken from her. She doesn't see the point in fighting for her reputation… she never wanted to be evil. She wasn't supposed to be evil."

"But she's the evil queen!" Alexandra cried.

"Because all the kingdoms made her so!" Emma stood back up, "She doesn't have anyone to fight with, fight for or let fight for her. She doesn't have anything worth protecting…" Emma looked down to the evil queen, "I'm sorry that our people, that my mommy and daddy hurt you; I'm sorry you're in pain." She whispered, "Everyone deserves to be happy. You deserve to be happy. The least I can do is try to make you happy after all the pain my family and allies have brought you."

"NO! Emma! It's a trap! Don't you see?!" Alexandra brought her axe upright and started making her way forward.

"No!" Emma put her hand up, stopping the other girl, "She's just sad and lonely. She's this way because of our parents. If we're the 'good' our mommies and daddies fought for, then the least I can do is show her a little kindness." She stared the other princess in the eyes, "Go on. You shouldn't get all mixed up in this. This started with my momma, but I have to end it. Rally the troops and go home. I'll be fine. I promise."

"Emma, no!" Alexandra tried, "I'll stay too."

"No. Go on. She's not gonna hurt me, I promise."

"You can't guarantee the actions of an evil witch!"

Emma smiled, "I can." She motioned for Alexandra to go, "I'll be fine."

Alexandra looked at the other princess with desperate eyes before she nodded and ran out of the center of the maze and started winding herself back to the entrance.

Emma laid down on the bench behind the evil queen. She wrapped her arms around the imaginary girl protectively, "I can try to make you happy." She swallowed, "I have to warn you though, I don't feel a lot of things, I don't get all gooey and emotion-filled. My momma and daddy think it's because of you. I'm not sure if they're right or wrong, but I know logicalistically that good shouldn't hunt down evil and take their life for something they don't even know hurt their baby." She sighed, "I'm not supposed to know that they did that, but I do. And I don't think you deserved death."

Alexandra had tears in her eyes as she ran out of the labyrinth and towards the large patio that the queens were sitting for tea at.

"Momma! Momma!" She cried as her feet carried her as fast as they could go.

"She stayed! Emma sacrificed herself!"

Snow and Ella looked to one another then to the tiny princess, "Alexandra, what do you mean?"

"We went to the Evil Queen's castle to defeat her, and we found her waiting to die, so Emma decided that she needed to stay to make her happy because we had made her so sad to begin with! Momma! She's staying for our ill deeds! It's not right! She can't stay with the evil queen! She can't!" Alexandra buried her face in her mother's neck.

Snow rubbed the girl's back as she moved around to look at her, "Alexandra, the Evil Queen is dead… She can't hurt anyone, and she can't be in pain… We made sure of that before you were born."

"Then how come Emma is with her in her castle?!" Alexandra cried. "Please, Snow! We have to get her back! We have too!"

Snow and Ella looked to one another before they stood up, "Okay. Let's go get her. Where is the queen's castle?" Ella asked.

"In there…" Alexandra pointed to the hedge maze.

The queens looked to each other, knowing that their girls had scared themselves (or at the very least, Alexandra had been scared and Emma mimicked) many a time going in there alone before they made their way through the maze. They found Emma asleep on the bench, sword and shield on the ground.

"I think it's far pastnaptime. Especially since someone refused to sleep on the way here." Ella said to the girl in her arms.

Snow looked surprised as she bundled Emma up, "You still have naptime?" Her soft tone sounded jealous. "Emma only naps on rare occasions." She added as they made their way out of the maze once more.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma woke up a couple hours later. She looked around, seeing that she was in her bed and yawned as she crawled out. She wandered, looking for her mother—and maybe a snack, before finding her in the library.

"Mommy?" Emma asked as she crawled into her mother's lap.

"Yes, princess?"

"I'm hungry."

Snow chuckled, "Well, you've had a busy day. I'm not surprised."

"May I have something to eat?"

Snow nodded, "Of course, but first, I want to talk to you about something…"

Emma crawled from her mother's lap to the table in front of them and looked at her, "What?"

"Alexandra came running from the hedge maze screaming that you sacrificed yourself to the evil queen because of our ill deeds…"

"So…"

"It's not the first time you've done that while playing 'Evil Queen'…"

"I know." Emma nodded.

"Why do you do it?"

"Because."

"Why?"

"Because everyone deserves to be happy. Everyone should get a chance to be happy." Emma shrugged.

"Your father and I gave her plenty of second chances."

Emma's tone was plain, factual. "But none of them were a shot at happiness. They were second chances for her to prove herself for the bad things she was forced into…"

"And how was she forced into them? You know her story. You know why she came after me. Why was she _forced_ to try and take my life?"

"Because you took Daniel's." Emma was nothing if not frank in conversations with anyone. It was part of that not being able to feel emotion she'd come to realize about herself. She was able to say things most wouldn't.

Snow had to take a moment to wipe the shock from her face and to make sure her voice wouldn't be raised and angry when she spoke, "I didn't kill him."

"But kind of you did." Emma's manner was still matter-of-fact as stood and started pacing the table. The only thing that ever seemed to work her up in any way was when someone brought up the Evil Queen. No one knew why, though they assumed it had to do with that curse Regina put on the White Princess.

Emma knew her mother was getting upset, but she couldn't stop herself from continuing, from defending the Evil Queen. "You always tell me to put myself in other people's shoes to see if things I say are mean or hurtful. Have you ever put yourself in her shoes? She asked you not to say anything to her mother because her mother was mean and hurtful. She wanted to run away with her boyfriend because he actually loved her. But then her mother says things that made you feel sad and want to fix their relationship and Regina's words and your promise weren't with you anymore."

Emma stopped pacing and looked at her mother, "Then her mother pulled his heart out and crushed it to dust because of your broken promise. Because you told her what was happening. She spent years trying to even the score, to make you feel even a little bit of the pain she felt, but that could never be done because you always had plenty of people that cared about you enough to protect you. She didn't have anyone. She'd had Daniel… and then she didn't." Emma sat back down, "And she lived in pain for the rest of her life. Time didn't heal her wounds. It healed yours; you moved on. But she couldn't ever move on because when her mother crushed his heart, I'll bet anything she might as well have crushed her heart too."

Emma took her mother's face, "I can't feel all the emotions. And you claim that is due to the Evil Queen and that when you realized it, it was the final straw. And she's dead and I still can't feel 'em. I can't feel 'em, but I do understand them, and I do think I know more things 'cause I can't feel them. I think I know what people feel even though I can't feel. And that's what I think happened to her. I've heard her story a thousand times. I've heard you tell her story, I've heard maids, Red, Belle, daddy, Thomas, Ella—even Rumplestilskin tell bits and pieces of her story. And I think that's how she felt in the world. And now she's dead, and sure it's over, but…" Emma shrugged, "I thought the good side didn't kick a dog when it's down. And that's what it seems like happened to me."

Snow shook her head, "You… are so smart and bright and lovely. And there might be aspects that you are right about regarding the Evil Queen, but darling, do not doubt that we did everything we could before we had to put an end to it. Put an end to the evil in this world."

"I don't." Emma said as she let her mother pick her up and walk with her to the kitchen to get that snack—and hopefully go find Alexandra. _I just think that there are two emotional sides to every story, and there is good and there is evil and evil isn't born, it's made. And I think she was made evil for your story and that automatically made you evil in hers…_ She thought as her mother carried her down the hall.

"Let's get you something to eat, my dear."

**AN: Hope you enjoyed! Thoughts and feels? Please read and review. I will be posting chapter three in the next 24 hours!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: This contains direct quotes from "House" and "Miami Medical." I own/ed neither of those shows, but how awesome it would have been if I did?**

Dr. Allison Cameron was sitting in the waiting room of her oral board exams. She knew that this was the most she'd ever done to run away and change herself. She'd run home once, changed her hair color many times, finally going back to blonde. She'd moved, changed jobs, even transferred colleges a few times. But completely uprooting her life and testing to become a trauma surgeon… that was the biggest thing she'd ever done to completely escape the bad in her life.

She wasn't thinking about the cases presented to her and the answers she was giving; she was thinking about how she left things with House and her ex-husband. And how they would never be the same.

_She had been folding the last of the extra clothes in her locker when Chase came in. They'd made the decision to leave. Together. He quietly waited for her ear and after giving him a silent signal, he started in, "I told House I want to work for him again." She looked up from the shirt she was folding in surprise. He sat next to her and gave her a pleading look, "Stay on the team. You were always more into it than I was, more interested in diagnostics. Unless House was right about why you want out…"_

She stared at him blankly. It was the only thing she could do. After all they had been through together: his insane jealousy, him looking up and admiring House in the same way she did, his jealousy again, him murdering a patient; they were back to square one. She tucked her shirt into her duffle and walked out. She didn't dignify him with any other response. She didn't have to.

_She packed her car and went back into the hospital. It was time to talk with House._

_"Four for four." He'd whispered as she came in, thinking she was going to ask for her job back._

She stopped, clenched just like he hated and started speaking. It wasn't all true, but she knew it would be what he wanted to hear—what he _needed__ to hear; that it would be a sense of closure, "I was in love with you. I was an idiot. Tried to be like you, tried to understand you because I thought I could heal you." She paused a moment, "You almost killed that patient."_

"If almost not saving his life means—"

"You knew the diagnosis a long time ago." She gave him a hard look, "You risked another patient's life to bait your old team."

House gave her an innocent look, "Another one?"

"You did kill Dibala. By playing God and teaching us to do the same."

"I taught you to think for yourselves."

Allison shook her head, "You don't even think of them as people. They're just lab rats for your little puzzles."

"As you celebrate their humanity, I'd rather solve those little puzzles and save their lives."

She was going to try to let that one go because she knew it before she started working for him—all 90 times she was rehired. But, this was probably their last talk, and she needed to tell him the truth, "Motives do matter. Lives can't come second."

"The patient is alive. That's what matters."

"Not to you. All you care about is that Taub and Thirteen fell for your game. You'll poison them just like you poisoned Chase." She started blinking, alerting House that there would be tears.

House gave her a look, "Your husband killed a patient and you're breaking up with me."

"You ruined him. So he can't even see right from wrong. Can't even see the sanctity of a human life anymore. I loved you." She blinked, letting a couple tears go, "And I loved Chase. I'm sorry for you both." She paused a moment to swallow the lump that formed in her throat, "For what you've become. Because... there's no way back for either of you." She inhaled a ragged breath, waiting for a response. And when she didn't get one, she took a step closer and stuck her hand out like she had done five years ago, the first time she tried to quit. He stared at it like it was foreign, just like he did five years before. She shook her head and stepped forward, into his personal space. She kissed his cheek; then she left.

"Dr. Cameron?" one of the three board members stepped into the haul. She looked up at the woman, "We're ready for you."

Allison stood and followed her into the room.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Rayner washed out. Eva was supposed to be in charge. She had seniority. Three years on one Dr. Chris Deleo, resident man-whore and best friend, and two more on one Dr. Serena Warren, the newest doc and new go-to for all things girly that she didn't want to share with Chris. She was the boss.

As Eva and Chris were walking down the hall after they both met Proctor, and as she listened to Chris rant about 'Mr. Tea-and-Biscuits,' she tried to tell herself that the conclusion she knew Chris was coming to was wrong, so she laughed at his frustration.

"This is funny to you?" He asked her.

"It's hysterical." She quipped.

He plowed on, basically ignoring her comment, "I mean, you're Rayner's right hand! You're the doctor that he's grooming for Trauma Chief—"

This was it. The part she didn't want to hear. The part she knew was coming and didn't want to accept. She'd worked hard for five years to become chief. She was acting chief as of that morning. And now Chris was going to pop her Trauma Chief bubble.

"But, because Proctor is attending level and you're not yet, Admin could appoint him over you."

She knew he was right; and it's not like she had walked in that morning thinking she was going to be the new chief. Her chief walked buck ass nude out of the trauma building, completely melting down and washing out that morning. She had thought she was just going to work. Not losing her chief, filling in for the time being, learning about Proctor and his attending level and getting swept aside. It was just supposed to be another day at work. And that's how she needed to act. She took a breath of acceptance, and decided it was time to focus on the matter at hand. "You want to know what bothers me?"

"What's that?" Chris was still miffed.

"That there's still a 33% chance that my pregnant with LACs can lose her baby." She gave him a look, asking him to focus on his own patient instead of Proctor, which he pointedly ignored, "That's what bothers me," she pressed on, "and _that_ I can do something about." She gave him a closed-mouth smile and moved on to go check on her patient.

She was a surgeon. She was built to cut. She wasn't built to be the boss of people and deal with paperwork. She was built to fix people. That's why she got into medicine. And that was what she had to remind herself about every time Rayner's snap or the new Dr. Proctor came to mind. She was made to fix people, heal them.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison had been interested in many trauma programs—well, many trauma programs had been interested in the Immunologist-turned-Trauma Surgeon. She scouted around for a while, but ultimately the pull of Miami Medical made itself known and she couldn't resist it anymore.

She was walking out of the trauma building, finished with her paperwork and heading to her new place to finish moving in when she saw her.

Regina.

REGINA!

The woman got out of her car in a dress that would have been more suitable as a cover up for the beach—then again, she was in Miami now, and Regina's legs ran for days.

She couldn't help but stare at her. It took everything she had in her not to walk over and kiss her for all she was worth.

Damn, that would have been a good story.

She almost let her wants take her over, but then Regina's chocolate eyes locked onto hers.

~0~0~

Eva should know by now that there are no normal days in her life. Ever. People get their legs amputated by crocodiles while golfing, kitchens explode, kids do stupid things like make human sling shots and fling themselves into the sides of houses. Pregnant women get thrown from cars and manage to some how keep their baby alive as well as themselves, Calle Cubana… there's always something with Calle Cubana. Eva should know that not normal is her normal.

Normally, she's pretty aware and expectant of everything. Her years of medical training have told her to expect the worst and hope for the best, and that's what she does everyday.

But never in her life did she think that she would ever see Emma in the pure light of day.

She'd locked her car and started heading in for her shift when she felt eyes glued to her. She turned to see the green orbs that had captured her in her dreams.

Emma was in the parking lot.

EMMA was in the PARKING LOT!

She was walking with a pair of royal scrubs not dissimilar to her own.

Emma was a surgeon. A trauma surgeon. EMMA WAS A TRAUMA SURGEON! She didn't know what to do.

She just stared. And she didn't feel one ounce of regret of getting in a staring contest with the girl of her dreams.

She had to turn around and walk backwards into the building, just like Emma had to turn and walk backwards further into the parking lot.

Eva didn't know what to do; she just stared. Emma had stopped walking after stepping on the sidewalk and stared back.

Life was not only not normal, but now Eva's dreams were literally coming to life.

~0~0~

Allison stared as Regina stood just inside the trauma building. They'd kept their eyes locked; nothing could break their stare. At least not until some blonde guy took Regina by the arm and walked with her further into the building. It took a moment to process that Regina was walking into the trauma building and she wasn't hurt or bleeding or crying or worried, which meant she worked in there. And Allison worked there.

Never in her life would she have thought that her ability to pick up and run was actually practice not for running away, but for running to. Running to the woman of her dreams.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Regina sat back in her chair as she waited for the Genie's face to appear in the mirror. "How is this possible?"

"Well, we always knew there was a chance…"

"But the chance was at least 1 in 300 million!" Regina stood and started pacing, "There was NO chance!"

"They're halves of fairytale characters living human lives in a place where the only magic is fate. I think you know that things are more likely than the literal chances given the circumstances."

"GENIE!" Regina screamed as she turned to look at his face, "I don't need to hear what you think is the strength of fate; I need to figure out a way to fix this."

"Yes, my Queen."

**AN: Thoughts and feels? Please Read and Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Emma owns a Gypsy Horse. The alluded way that they were created in this story is fictional (as far as I know; I just liked that they were called Gypsy horses and took off with the idea).**

Allison walked into the locker room for her first official day as a trauma surgeon. But that's not what she had on her mind. She wanted to find Regina. She wanted to grab hold of her and never let her go—she knew she sounded crazy, but that's what she wanted to do.

She didn't think it would be so easy to find her though. As soon as she looked into the room from scanning the trauma bay, she saw her.

And it took no time for Eva to feel eyes on her and look to find Emma staring at her. Proctor had been making an introduction for the incoming fifth member of the alpha team at the time, so it was only fitting that Eva look at whom she suspected to be the new doc.

Eva wasn't the only one to look pastProctor, Chris and Serena both looked at Emma as well.

"Oh, here you are." Proctor smiled a friendly smile, "Eva, Chris, Serena? This is Dr. Allison Cameron." He pointed as he introduced the team, "Allison, this is team Alpha: Eva, Chris and Serena."

_That's not her name_. Was the only thought that crossed both women's minds. They continued to look at each other, but Nurse Tuck came in, interrupting introductions.

"We have incoming." He said before starting to make his way out. He stopped though and turned back around, "You must be Dr. Cameron." He smiled politely, "I'm Tuck."

"Tuck is the go-to guy for all of us." Serena said as she, Chris and Proctor made their way passed Allison.

Proctor turned at the door, "You ladies coming?"

"Yeah, I just need to grab a couple things." Eva said.

"I should change." Allison started making her way further into the room. She waited for the door to swing shut before she moved passed the locker with her name on it and stood directly next to Eva.

Eva grabbed her penlight, nametag and stethoscope, all the while feeling Emm—Allison's green eyes boring into her.

Allison finally after dreaming of this woman her whole life had the opportunity to say something. So, what came out of her mouth? "I saw you in the parking lot..the other day." Really? Way to go Allison! You rocked that one; really stuck the landing! She wanted to die. She had to physically keep her arm down so she couldn't slap herself.

Eva smiled; she could tell that this 'Allison' person was nervous; she looked almost as nervous as Eva felt. That was why she cleverly chose to say nothing. She didn't want to make an ass of herself. Though she would admit that the woman before her, who had accidentally chosen the 'making an ass' route was doing an adorable job of it.

Eva opted to simply smile and nod, and luckily, Chris poked his head back in, "You coming?" He asked impatiently.

Eva shut her locker door and nodded his direction as she made a few strides across the room. She took a deep breath and turned around, deciding if Emm—Allison could talk to her then she could talk to the blonde, "I'd hurry if I were you. We might stick you with the boring cases…"

Having almost fully recovered from her idiocy, Allison looked over to Eva, "I signed on for trauma because it's never boring." She smirked and moved to her assigned locker.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma was about three feet out the castle doors when her mother's voice rang from the parlor. "Just where do you think you're going, Princess?" Snow emerged from the castle doorway and crossed her arms as she leaned against the wooden frame.

"The stables." The 22-year-old princess said simply before turning.

"And why didn't you tell your father or myself?"

"I did tell daddy." Emma gave an innocent smile, "After I couldn't find you."

"Really?" Snow's voice was just as innocent.

"Yeah…"

"And did you tell your father that you were bringing your sword and dagger?"

"Of course."

"That was very kind of your father to let you go riding with your weapons as if trying to go camping without everything you know you need when the sky looks as grey as it does."

"It was. Very nice." Emma nodded and turned to go down the steps.

"Emma?"

"Yes, mother?" Emma sighed in annoyance, she turned to her mother once more and gave the queen a pointed look.

"Your father's in the sun room with me." Snow gave her daughter narrowed eyes. "Why are you lying?"

"Because I thought it would get me to the stables faster."

"Why do you need to go riding in the rain?"

"It's fun."

"Not for your father or myself. Last time we spent two days worrying because of the storm that came through—"

"I took cover—"

"I don't care. Dear, you need to start making smarter decisions."

"Maybe next year, or the year after that." Emma gave her mother her father's charming smile, "Look, mother, I need to go riding today. I've been cooped up with my studies for a week straight! I need fresh air and sunlight…" She looked up at the grey sky, "Or clouds. And Zambrano hasn't been out in forever! He needs to roam free!"

"That horse has the wandering mind of the dreaded people that gave him to you."

"Mother, gypsies are not dreaded people. And those gypsies invented a new breed of horse! And they gave me their prize pony! They're kind, lovely people." Emma looked down, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a horse that I've promised a ride to."

"Emma Swan White!"

"Bye mother. I'll be back before the storm… Or after." The blonde princess gave her mother a wink before running down the yard to the stables without another look back. "Zambrano?" She said once she got inside the stables.

The chestnut colored gypsy horse immediately stuck his head out of his stall.

Emma grinned as she picked up her saddle and walked over to him, "You ready for that ride?" She asked as she entered the stall. She took a look at his mane and the long hair around his feet, "Oh, did you get a bath and a grooming?"

The horse nodded his head with a whinny.

"Well, you spoiled horse, you must be so happy now. Especially since you get to go for a run, hm?"

The horse nodded again as Emma finished with the saddle and then placed his reigns. She walked him out of the stables before hopping on his back, "Okay, Zambrano, it looks like rain… You know what that means?"

Zambrano gave a loud neigh and kicked the ground, "That's right. We go as far away from here as possible so that we can't return home if we wanted… and I think I have the perfect spot. I finally found an old map that my mother forgot to have taken out of the castle. The one with _her_ castle on it." She took a breath and pulled out her compass and the map; she glanced at it, having already memorized it and only double-checking before, "Let us go west." She turned the horse in the right direction and kicked his sides. Zambrano was only too happy to set into a gallop.

The sky grew greyer and day turned to night and back into day, but Emma pressed on—and Zambrano had the heart of an adventurer just like his human, so if she thought something was ahead he was ready and willing for travel, "I don't understand it. We should be able to see it…" She looked down at her map in the morning light that strained to peer through the building grey clouds. She jumped off Zambrano's back and pointed, "Right over there! It should be right over there! I was sure some of it would still be up. There's no way my parents stayed and took apart everything but the foundation…"

She started walking over to the spot the dead evil queen's castle was supposed to be when she saw something wrong with the forest that had grown over the alleged grounds. It looked like a ripple of some kind. A ripple in midair with the first of the dreaded rain drops.

"Zambrano, did you see that?" She called for the horse to come closer to her and pointed as another drop rippled in the air.

Zambrano cocked his head and gave a quick sigh with his gut.

Emma reached up her hand and touched where the ripples were. It was a shield of some kind. A magical shield, "Woah…" She looked up to the horse, "Shall we?"

Zambrano shook his head at first then changed his mind and nodded; he was a curious horse and needed to know.

Emma smiled and took his reigns. They walked through the shield and found the castle. It looked dark and dangerous and everything Emma had ever dreamed of when she heard tales about the evil witch. There was a wrought-iron fence that wrapped around the entire castle preventing her from going further. Her mouth gaped open, "Wow…" She sighed out.

Emma looked at the gate in front of her. It was held together with a large chain, the lock in the shape of a human heart. Emma grabbed it and jiggled it a few times. "Stubborn lock." She said frustrated before grabbing her knife from her boot. Then, with a stab to the lock and a hard twist, the rusting iron fell limp to the forest floor. She looked to her horse with a wide grin.

"Let's go inside." She took Zambrano's reigns and they carefully made their way to the door of the castle. Emma took notice that the grass and shrubs seemed to be freshly cut, which was odd considering this castle didn't exist anymore (even though it did) and the 'Evil' Queen was dead (so she'd been told). Her heart started fluttering in a way she'd never experienced.

~0~0~0~0~0~

They'd been cutting all day. Repairing people. Allison literally put a person back together. It was going to be a long recovery for her double arm amputated and reattached guy, but he was back from the brink of death and he was doing good.

Allison had thrown a tank top on and was sliding into skinny jeans when Chris and Serena walked in.

"Okay!" Chris covered his eyes quickly, bashfully, "I will do this or turn away from you and say nothing normally, but I like to make sure that each of my trauma gals know just how beautiful they are. And you, Dr. Allison Cameron, are beautiful." He paused a moment and peaked over his hand to make sure she was completely clothed, "But I will always avert my eyes."

Allison eyed him, a telltale bit of humor behind timid, first-day-and-I'm-nervous-and-shy eyes before looking over to Serena.

"He's harmless." Serena smiled letting her know that the man merely was trying to give her a compliment.

Allison nodded, "So… I hear there is a bar?"

Chris smiled, "Yes there is. We tend to go there after work. Great food, great music."

"You wanna come?" Serena asked.

"After today? Definitely."

"You're going to be saying that a lot." Chris noted as he took his clothes from his locker.

"Definitely." Allison quipped as she turned to dig back through her duffle for her keys, wallet, phone and sandals.

Eva walked in just in time to see Emma-but-actually-Allison's denim covered derriere as the woman fastened her t-strap sandals closed.

She coughed to cover the groan of punishment/moan of want as she made her way to her locker.

"Hey!" Chris gave Eva his best flirty smile, "Just who we were missing. We're all going to the bar, you wanna come?"

Eva turned to the girls on the adjacent side of the room, but only saw green orbs staring back at her in question.

"Of course. I… I will be there in a bit. I need to take a quick shower though, so you guys go ahead."

"Come on!" Chris gave her a look, "We're all dirty."

"Yes, but not all of us got thrown up on twice before their patient inevitably died." Eva was not happy about that, but she did everything she could do—so she told herself. And even though logically she knew it was true, she couldn't help but think there was more she could do.

Allison, Serena and Chris all looked down.

"That is truth." Chris nodded, "We'll see you there though? Don't bail on us like you usually do when a patient dies. We have a guest…"

Eva glanced Emma—_damn it!_—Allison's direction before looking back at Chris, "She's hardly a guest. She's a new member."

"Which means that you shouldn't stand us up on her first night!"

Eva put a placating hand on Chris's shoulder, "Fine. Alright. I will definitely be at the bar."

~0~0~0~0~0~

22 years before:

Regina poofed into her living quarters with the same wicked smile she left the White Kingdom with.

"Is it done?" The genie appeared in the mirror above the fireplace.

"It is done." Regina looked into another mirror lining the side of the fireplace and blew herself a kiss. "I've my ultimate revenge." She let herself smile as she looked back to the genie, "That tiny child, that baby princess, that Emma…" the light in her eyes couldn't be avoided, "She won't feel emotion. Her heart will be stone to her family. She'll be cold and distant. She'll be everything a princess should never be. She will never be whole. And she'll never know why."

"And can you feel anything?"

Regina looked down, the smile fading, "No."

"My queen, I think you're lying."

"I sent the only part of me that felt any pain anymore over with that baby's emotions. We'll both know when to be sad, angry, happy—we'll know emotions, but we won't feel. _I_ won't feel anymore."

"I think you do still feel. I think you feel loss. And I think it's the same feeling you thought you were getting away from—!"

Regina picked up a figurine from the end table of her luxurious couch and threw it at the Genie, causing the mirror to shatter.

"My Queen—!" He'd reappeared in another mirror and another figurine went flying.

"Shut it, Genie! You've no idea of what you speak!" The evil queen retreated to the darkened corner of the room and settled into the dark arm chair to sulk and try to figure out how the genie was right when the spell specifically said that it would let her not feel loss or anger or heartache.

"Yes, my queen." His voice interrupted after she first settled, "Call for me when you need me." He knew he wouldn't get a response, so he vanished from the mirror right after.

Regina sat. She sat and sat and thought and sat. She'd gone through the curse hundreds of times and every time she came to the same conclusion: She should not be feeling loss. She should not be feeling anything, but she did. She shouldn't still be hurting, but she was. She thought about her pathetic excuse for her life; every time she tried to help or heal or protect someone or something, she ended up more broken.

Like Daniel died when she tried to protect him from her mother and run away. Her father died when she tried to rid the land of the curse that Rumplestilskin wanted her to perform on the realm—so much for forgiveness and thanks for that from all the 'good' lands! _You're welcome for saving your life._ She just didn't understand why the pain and loss was still there. It was like she sent the only happy part of her to the other realm. And she didn't know how she did that.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison, Serena and Chris had made it to the parking lot when Allison realized she left her phone on the bench.

"Oh, damn it. I left my phone in the locker room. I will uh, I'll meet you guys there?"

"Of course." Serena nodded, "It's just across the street and…" She counted in her head, "Five blocks east."

"Okay, thanks." Allison smiled before making her way back in the hospital. As she was entering once more, she saw Tuck and Proctor, "Oh, hey guys."

"Where are you going? The fun's the other way." Tuck gave her a good-natured smile.

"I know, I left my phone…"

"We'll see you at the bar?" Proctor asked.

"Yes, I will be right behind you guys."

They both nodded and made their way to their cars.

Eva had stripped down and wrapped her giant towel around herself, securing it with the Velcro sewn into it. She'd gathered her shower supplies, or was in the middle of grabbing everything when the weight of losing her patient made its daunting presence known. She hunched over and let the tears fall. She heard the door and movement.

"Proctor, I said I'm fine—Oh…" She turned around to see Emma-Allison standing there.

Allison gave Regina—_no, it's 'Eva'! Eva Zambrano!_—a sympathetic look, "You're not fine." She walked over to the brunette and sat down next to her.

Eva closed her eyes and covered her face as a sob came forth. She quickly swallowed half of it and tried to wipe her eyes, "I don't know why it still gets me. It shouldn't still get to me. I've been doing this for five years."

Allison put a comforting hand on Regina-Eva's shoulder, "I think that when it stops getting to you, when losing patients stops getting to you, I think that's when you need to worry. Our job is tough. That's why so many people wash out. It's hard to handle. And the fact that you still feel sorrow after five years says more to me than anything or anyone else could say about you." She inhaled unintentionally when Eva rested her head on her shoulder, "You did everything you could." She said simply.

"I should have done more."

"There was nothing more to do."

"How do you know? You weren't on my case."

"Because you are the doctor that I would want on my case. You do everything swiftly and you anticipate. I watched you before my guy came. You are everything a trauma surgeon—any surgeon should be. You did everything you could."

"You watched me?"

Allison pulled from the other woman as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, "Well, everyone. I was the only one without a person, I was debating who needed the most help or any help, but you were mesmerizing. You were like an octopus. Throwing stitches, catching bleeders; your hands were everywhere." She smiled, hoping to make the other woman smile, "You did it all. You did everything you could." She said it again.

"I did. But I wish there was more I could do."

"Next time, there will be." Allison said, "You should get washed up. You have a night of fun and drinking ahead of you."

Eva smiled and stood, "Yes, I do."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Present day:

Emma paused her and Zambrano's trek through the front gate of the castle and took a moment to reflect on her life up to this point. She had always known that there was something more, something greater to life than what she'd known. She'd known emotions, she'd known what to feel and when, but she'd never actually felt any of them. She could play the part and act as though she was feeling them—she'd had Alexandra fooled for a long time, but she never was feeling anything. She knew when people lied and when they told the truth; she knew when people lied for what they felt was the greater good.

She knew that her parents killed the Evil Queen because she couldn't feel, but some small, determined part of her had always told her that she was in fact feeling, she was just indifferent to most things. The only thing that seemed to rile her just a little, was when the Evil Queen was of topic. When the family and friends still toasted to their murdering her like it was something to celebrate. There was this small part of her that told her the queen was still alive.

Emma looked over the castle once more. She just hoped that that small part of her was right. And that's when she realized she was feeling something other than the everlasting indifference: She was feeling hope. Hope for the Evil Queen to still be alive. She was feeling an anticipated nervousness for what was on the other side of that door she was so close to. She kept her thoughts to herself as she tugged Zambrano along the path leading to the door.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison let Eva move into the shower pit. She stared after the woman a moment and inhaled deeply. "What the hell am I going to do about you, Regina Mills?" She asked herself as she grabbed her phone and walked out of the locker room.

~0~

After getting out of eyesight, into the shower stall, after turning on the water, Eva pressed her forehead against the tile, "What the hell am I going to do about you, Emma Swan?" She sighed again. This was going to get so emotionally confusing…

~0~0~0~0~0~

After that first day of her curse, her unfeeling ultimate revenge, Regina realized she still felt loss because she knew what she was losing, what she had lost for forever. Without that part that wanted to heal and protect and make right; she felt broken, exposed and horrid. She didn't go beyond her castle grounds; she didn't age over the next 22 years, and she played dead for the White Royals so they would finally let her live in what little peace she had left.

She just sulked and felt the everlasting pain. She'd tried ridding herself of it; she'd tried ignoring it; she'd tried distractions from emotional to mental to _physical_—her loyal huntsman did his damndest to try to take the pain away. She'd tried literally everything. Nothing worked. It was worse than before she sent that protective, healing part of her away because that part of her was raw but empty. There was reason for her feeling loss. Now, there was no reason behind the loss. She felt terrible loss because she lost that small amount of her that still felt anything.

There was only one thing going for her and that was her counterpart's potential happiness. But that didn't really help _her_ out. The Genie was trying to tell her something when she felt it.

Someone breeched her protection. Someone was on her castle grounds, not touring for a visit and seeing the demolished grounds, not playing on the actual evil land of the evil queen, but someone was on _her_ grounds. The ones that showed the castle was not torn apart and she was not dead.

She stood and moved quickly to the window.

"Genie!" She hissed.

"Yes, my queen?" The voice of the genie was filled with worry.

Regina's eyes widened as she took in blonde curls. But other than that, there was little reaction, "Is that who I think it is?"

"If you think her the White Princess, then you are right."

"Why is she here_—how_ is she here?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison looked around the bar after walking in. She knew she should have asked where they sat. The place was outside for the most part. Gates would be drawn to lock up, that was for sure. It was really like an open patio of a place, but it had a nice dance floor and plenty of seats.

Though that was the problem; there were so many seats, Allison couldn't find anyone.

"Outside on the deck." The voice came from behind her.

Allison turned to find Eva. She smiled gratefully.

"Come on." Eva grabbed Allison by the wrist and led her over. "Hey guys. You start without us?"

"Of course." Chris nodded, "But we took the liberty of ordering for you, too. Hope that's all right?" He looked to Allison.

Allison smiled, "Perfectly fine." She smiled as she sat down.

A new song started playing on the speakers and Eva and Tuck looked to one another. Tuck started laughing, "Now, you know I'm about to ask you to dance. Don't even pretend to start sitting down, Dr. Zambrano." He smiled as he offered his hand.

Eva merely laughed as she took it. "You do love this song." She said as she grabbed her beer and headed off to the dance floor with Tuck.

Chris stood, "Would either of you two lovely… lovely ladies like to dance with me?" He looked to Allison first then Serena.

Serena looked over to Allison too, expectantly almost.

"I don't dance." Allison said softly, telling Serena to dance with Chris.

"Really? Why?" Chris asked.

Allison shrugged. She opened her mouth to speak but Proctor interrupted.

"Why does it matter whether a couple people at your table don't like to dance, Chris? Maybe we were traumatized as children in freak dancing accidents." Proctor took a swig and when he received three entertained, questioning stares, he shrugged nonchalantly, "It could happen." He took another drink.

After watching the two of them go, Allison turned to Proctor, "You remind me of an old boss."

"Really?"

"Yeah… except you're not a narcissistic jackass. Just the quirky part." Allison nodded approvingly, "I like it." She said as she turned to watch everyone dance—as she turned to watch Eva dance.

Proctor chuckled, "Thank you."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma was on the last step of the giant steps that led to the main doors of the castle. Just as her second foot planted on the top, the doors flew open.

Emma jumped, and Zambrano was quick to duck behind her in fear then poke his head over his human's shoulder. The White Princess stared at the entryway bug-eyed and jaw-dropped to see none other than the Evil Queen herself. She couldn't do anything but stop and stare. She was everything her pictures (the forbidden pictures that no one, not even her mother knew she'd found in old libraries and stolen) showed her to be, right down to the body-tight dress and the… revealing neckline. She managed to snap her jaw closed as she continued to stare at the vibrant womanliness before her.

The evil queen didn't stop her from staring; she was sizing the princess up. She had a sword and dagger, and Regina would bet anything that she had a knife hidden in one of her boots, but she didn't get the notion that Emma was there to fight her.

So they stared at each other.

**AN: Thoughts and feels? Please Read and Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Allison watched Serena and Chris dance. And she watched Eva dance with Tuck. She watched a guy come between them and she watched Eva happily wrap her arms around his neck, Tuck stand and make sure she was okay before he smirked and went to find another dance partner.

"Is she always so popular?" Allison asked Proctor.

"Eva? Yes." Proctor took a gulp of his beer.

Allison nodded before doing the same.

"Do you… Are you…?" He stared at the new doctor as she watched Eva, "Are you gay?"

"Sometimes." Allison sighed.

"Sometimes… How does that work?"

"I've always been attracted to the person not the gender. Sometimes the guys I chose were a little too pretty though." She shook her head as her ex-husband came to mind, but that thought vanished as soon as she looked up and saw the guy whisper in Eva's ear, Eva nod and the two make their way off the dance floor.

Proctor watched, "I'm afraid she's not gay." He took another sip of his beer.

"Who's not gay?" Serena asked as she came and sat down.

"Eva." The oldest doctor provided.

Serena looked from him to the other blonde surgeon, over to Eva then at the blonde surgeon again to see that she was staring. She tried to mask her surprised face and took a drink from her own bottle and looked back to Proctor, mouthing, "Is she…?"

"Sometimes." Proctor said aloud.

"Sometimes?!" Serena looked to Allison, "You're bisexual?"

"If you want to put a label to it." Allison nodded, glancing to the other girl.

Serena shrugged, "Let freedom ring." She clinked her bottle against Allison's and moved the neck to take another drink but stopped short, "I wouldn't let Chris in on that little bit of knowledge. He'll be all over you for weeks…"

Allison smirked, "I see."

"He's harmless."

"So you've said." Allison grinned before taking a sip.

"Can I ask you something in complete, blatant confidence?" Serena asked.

"Of course."

Serena glanced to Proctor, "You're not allowed to say anything either."

"Wouldn't if I wanted to." He put three fingers up declaring his scout's honor.

Serena gave him a look before turning back to Allison, "What is it about Eva? I mean… is it because she's brunette? Tan? Can speak Spanish—Latina for crying out loud? Is she a better doctor than me? I mean, yeah, she's more experienced, but who's to say that once the years even out that she and I won't be the same or I'll be better?"

Allison knit her brows, "What in the hell are you talking about?"

"You like Eva and not me. And Chris likes Eva and not me—Proctor, shut up!" Serena didn't even look at the older man, she kept her stare on the other blonde girl.

Allison looked into her bottle, "I don't even know you…"

"And you know Eva?"

Allison rolled that one around in her head a bit. Did she really want to tell this person she just met that she had been dreaming of 'Eva' her entire life? "No… Here's… Okay. For the first, initial, physical attraction… It's always different. I don't have a preference of hair color or knowledge… I don't even have a gender preference, okay?" She tried to make light on the matter. "It's just innate, natural."

She paused, "Look, I look at you and I see your sunshiny face and I have a conversation with you and I think, 'she could be the sister I never had.'" She saw the disgusted look on Serena's face, "It's not an insult so don't take it like one. It's a compliment. I deal with the same problem. We have sweet, sunshiny faces; that's just how it is." She took a breath before, "But if Chris doesn't see how beautiful you are soon, it's gonna be his loss when he does and you're taken."

She looked for Eva in vain hope that she would be out there once more, but the brunette was long gone. "I look at Eva and I see…" She trailed off. She downed the rest of her bottle, "I'm gonna go. I'll see you guys bright and early for the next shift."

Serena knit her brows as Allison walked away, "What do you think she sees in Eva?"

Proctor gave the youngest doctor a look, "I don't think she sees a sister-like figure."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Genie appeared in the mirror, "What is that gracing your face? A small smile? My Queen are you feeling again?"

"No." Regina stood and moved about her room, "It's just nice to know that at least a part of me is catching people's attention. It's nice to know that a part of me can attract someone as…stunning as that woman and that that stunning woman is in the beginnings of falling in love."

"How can you tell?"

"She's got that look in her eyes. That look that only a person falling in love has. And she's directing that look at Eva." Regina shrugged. She then started thinking, "The curse really has been working… It's just more time consuming and intricate than I gave it credit for."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Eva was working as swiftly as possible, but she just couldn't fix all of her patient's bleeders on her own. She looked up to call for Tuck to get someone, but saw Allison walking by, probably avoiding her gaze, which she TOTALLY noticed had been happening since the blonde admitted to watching on her first day.

"DR. CAMERON!" She yelled and turned quickly back to her patient.

Allison knew that tone, that tone of a doctor possibly losing their patient if they didn't get help. She ran in, gloved up, thanked one of the nurses for tying her mask and whisked over to the brunette, "What do we got?"

The two immediately set work, keeping time with each other anticipating movements and needs. There was hardly any voiced communication.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"If it wasn't so gross, watching them dig in a man's innards, it might be…" Regina caught herself as she watched on.

The Genie appeared in one of his other mirrors, "What might it be?"

"Nothing." Regina was certainly not going to tell the Genie that she thought this perfect stranger and her other part were beautiful. That this perfect stranger that came out of nowhere and seemingly had an intense chemistry with her other part might just be the key to fixing everything.

"My Queen, there's something—"

"Shh! They're talking." Regina would not admit that her impatience was actually anticipation. No, because that would mean that she'd be feeling something and that wouldn't make sense, would it?

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison and Eva were the last to leave, both deciding to meet up at the bar later for drinks and dancing.

"God, I'm exhausted. I don't think I'll make it to the bar, let alone out of this place tonight." Allison said as she let her upper body fall so she could stretch her legs and arms.

"I know what you mean. Trust me. You'll make it to the bar. And after you have a drink, you might feel inclined to dance."

"Nah, I'm sure you'll dance enough for us both." Allison turned from Eva to grab her clothes.

Eva couldn't help the half-scoff-half-laugh that came out of her. She felt as though she needed to defend herself, "Excuse me?"

The blonde looked over to the brunette, realizing she'd offended her, "No! I just mean that you're a really good dancer… and there's a reason I've never been on the dance floor… I don't like it."

"You don't like dancing?"

"Not in crowds." The blonde stood and changed her shirt, "I'm more a dance in my underwear at home while I drink wine type."

Eva smiled, "I'd like to see that." She mumbled under her breath, but that made her pause in thought. She wanted to see Allison in her underwear?

"What'd you say?" Allison asked, turning to the brunette after having jumped into her skinny jeans.

Eva looked behind her as she pulled on her own pants. "I just don't believe that you don't like dancing. That's practically a sin."

Allison merely shrugged. Then she started scuffing the floor with her boot, "You're mesmerizing. When you dance… That's why I figure you can dance for both of us." She then awkwardly shuffled out, "I'll see you there."

~0~0~0~0~0~

"My Queen, I really, really need to tell you somethi—"

Regina raised her hand shutting the Genie up. She felt someone, something. Something breeched her protection from the outside world.

She stood and moved quickly to the window. What she saw when she got there was the last thing she thought possible.

"Genie!" She hissed.

"Yes, my queen?"

"Is that who I think it is?"

"If you think her the White Princess, then you are right."

"Why is she here_—how_ is she here?" Regina stared a little longer at the girl and a mongrel of a horse, of that she was sure. She knew those blonde locks, but she just couldn't believe it. Not without confirmation, "Genie." Her voice was low, threatening.

"Yes, my queen?" The Genie's voice was filled with regret.

"Show me that dear, sweet Dr. Allison Cameron."

"Yes, my queen." Genie faded out and Allison Cameron faded in.

Regina paced a few minutes before finally deciding to sit down.

She sat back in her chair as she waited for the Genie's face to appear in the mirror. "How is this possible?"

"Well, we always knew there was a chance…"

"But the chance was at least 1 in 300 million!" Regina stood and started pacing, "There was NO chance!"

"They're halves of fairytale characters living human lives in a place where the only magic is fate. I think you know that things are more likely than the literal chances given the circumstances."

"GENIE!" Regina screamed as she turned to look at his face, "I don't need to hear what you think is the strength of fate; I need to figure out a way to fix this."

"Yes, my Queen."

~0~0~0~0~0~

It had been a month and a half since Dr. Cameron started working with them, and most of that time, Allison avoided Eva. Eva could feel her stares, but she didn't talk to her unless entirely necessary.

Eva and Serena were eating lunch on one of the cement picnic tables that sat outside the hospital. Allison came out, stopped, looked to them both, and walked passed them to sit across the street on the sidewalk in the sun.

Eva knit her brows, "Why didn't she come sit with us?"

Serena watched the other blonde surgeon, thinking the whole act humorous, and also reminded her a little of her days in middle school, "She, uh, she's… You know?" She tried.

"No, that's why I asked." Eva deadpanned.

"She likes you." Serena looked to her friend. Then she had to roll her eyes at the surprised look, "Oh don't do that, don't act like you don't know. Girls know. We always know…" She looked back to Allison again before once more giving her attention to Eva, "That girl has had big, doe, gooey eyes for you ever since she saw you! And you want to know what else?"

Eva looked from Allison to Serena, "What?"

"I think you like her too."

"I do no—"

"No." Serena shook her head, "Because then you're just lying and that's no good." She stood and picked up her trash, "I'm just saying that there are worse things you could do than go on a date with her." Serena laughed, "I mean, you've already gone with a boy or two since she's been here… And when we go to the bar, you tend to flirt with all the guys, you know, smile at them and bat your eyes. And when they get you on the dance floor you do tend to press against them—"

"Okay, okay. You can stop now." Eva shook her head at the other girl's "Grease" filled antics.

"I'm just saying, Rizzo, there are worst things you could do… and have done…"

Eva watched her friend walk away before looking at the embodiment of Emma Swan.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Your Majesty?" Genie followed Regina down the hallway. She was strutting as if on a mission. He hadn't seen that walk in a good 20 years, "My Queen, I feel I must remind you that whatever it is you're wanting to do… You can't."

Regina stopped. She didn't look over to the wall to the mirror the Genie was currently in, she simply raised her chin a little higher, "Yes, I know." She now gave a hard glance to the mirror, "But there are no rules about Genie's trapped in mirrors. Are there?"

The Genie gave his own hard look at the woman as he faded from sight. Regina strutted on. She made her way down the stairs to the foyer. She didn't bother on waiting for a couple guards to open the door for her, no. She simply, magically yanked them open.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Serena noticed the beginnings of a pattern after their next two shifts. They would all go to the bar, Eva would inevitably get asked to dance because she is Eva. Chris and Tuck would find their own partners, Chris always first asking Serena and Allison. Tonight, Serena turned him down as she wanted to observe and confirm her suspicions.

Just as Eva's hips started moving, Allison's eyes were glued. Serena understood that maybe Allison didn't like dancing, but there was no way that she couldn't dance like the people out on the floor. All she had to do was move side to side, and she'd seen Allison keep a beat with her foot and her fingers while listening to her ipod while eating lunch. She just didn't understand why she wasn't dancing too.

"Why don't you go ask Eva to dance? Cut in, be nice. She'll let you."

"Nah." Allison didn't turn around to the other blonde, "I don't dance."

"So you've said, but I have a hard time believing it. I've seen you listen to music, I've seen you move just a little to the music. I'll bet you can dance."

"I didn't say I couldn't dance, I said I don't dance. And Eva would never say 'yes' to me." Allison gulped down the rest of her drink, "I'm gonna go get refills, you want one?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

"You're her!" Emma breathed out, "The queen…"

"The _Evil_ Queen." Regina's hands crackled with magic for effect.

"That's what people like to say, yes."

The effect of her magic seemed lost on the White Princess as she watched while the blonde try to walk inside with her hairy horse. She quickly stood in front of her, preventing her from entering.

Emma tried to push passed her, "Listen, the storm's coming, and you're alive, and Zambrano's scared of storms. Can we come in?"

"Zambrano?" Something lit in Regina's eyes; a familiarity at the name. She knew why, but she wondered how Emma could possibly have known her alternate's name.

"Yeah, my horse—"

Emma made to speak more, but Regina cut her off, "What kind of a name is Zambrano?"

"Well, when the gypsies gave him to me, my father said I could name him. I didn't have a name right away, so they started calling him Chestnut because of his coat color. Then one day, I just said, 'That's not his name. His name is Zambrano!' and they accepted it. I don't know where it came from; it just popped into my head."

Regina narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "So you took him out on a dark, cloudy day like today?"

"Yes."

"Even though he's scared of storms."

"Yeah…" Emma paused knowing she was digging herself a hole. Finally, she decided to comment further, "He's a wimp. Aren't you Zambrano?"

The horse snorted and shook his head then, in all essence, puffed out his chest and stood straight to look manly.

Emma pursed her lips, "Okay… I'm scared of storms."

"That's impossible." Regina spoke without thinking.

Emma knit her brows, "Excuse me?"

**AN: Hope you enjoyed. Thoughts and feels?**


	6. Chapter 6

They were at the bar after the shift a couple weeks later. Eva and Allison were all but normal around each other. They were getting to the point that their mutual attraction didn't make them act goofy, but they weren't quite 'normal' whatever that means, around each other. And Eva certainly wasn't ready to agree or admit that she'd done worse things than ask out a girl. She'd been with girls and loved it; it was just… It was that this girl was the girl she'd been dreaming of her whole life. She wasn't sure she was ready to compare Allison to Emma. So, she decided that dancing and occasionally going home with men was the way to go for now.

Allison just was not sure about anything. She knew that she wanted to take Eva and kiss the crap out of her, and every time she thought she saw something akin to mutual attraction, it went away. So, she stewed. Calmingly. Eva would get asked to dance and she would get refills for the table. And that's exactly what happened this night.

They'd gone through that familiar routine; Eva dancing and Allison wandering off 'to get those refills'. She, as she did every other night, sat on the corner of the bar and gazed out at the dance floor, wishing she could be whatever guy was attached to Eva—maybe not so much dancing, but attached certainly, wishing she could be the guy that took her home. And she didn't even want to do stuff!—okay, she wanted to do stuff, but she wanted to get to know her first. It was these thoughts that always plagued her as she watched her brunette with honey brown eyes dance on.

"I can't help but notice that you seem to be looking at the dance floor a lot…" An oddly familiar voice broke Allison's gaze.

She turned with obvious surprise, "Thirteen?"

The brunette put her hands up, "Please, you don't work there, I don't work there… Let's go by names—first names for a change." She stuck her hand out, "Call me, Remy."

"Remy…" Allison smiled as she took the brunette's hand, "Allison."

"I know." Remy smiled back. She leaned against the bar and looked at her, "I can't help but notice that you're also looking at that girl an awful lot."

Allison looked to Eva, who seemed to be having a marvelous time, before she turned back to Remy, "Uh, let's not talk about that. You! What are you doing down here in Miami?"

Remy looked down and around, "The chorea started… I decided it was time to travel around." She looked at the blonde, "I guess fate brought me here though…"

Allison knit her brows, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I have to tell you, Dr. Cameron—"

"First names." Allison grinned as she interrupted the brunette and propped her head up with her hand.

"Allison." Remy smiled charmingly back, "I always had a huge crush on you… I was jealous of Chase. But I was more jealous of those pink scrubs you always wore…" the grin didn't leave her lips as she saw the blush in Allison's cheeks.

"You were not…"

"I was." Remy grinned, "So me seeing you watching another woman must be fate, because it must mean that I have at least a small, measly chance to be with you… Right?" Remy asked.

Allison looked at the bar in thought, "I… don't know…" She looked back to the brunette with a purse of her lips.

"Oh please tell me there's at least a measly shot! Don't make me play the 'I'm dying and my dying wish is to go on one date with you' card… I'll do it 'cause I'm that desperate, but please don't make me…"

Allison gave her a faux scolding look, "You would not. You're much too mature for that."

"I did go back to work for House when you were the only one strong enough to walk away." Remy gave her a pointed look, "I'm not that mature."

On the outer deck, where the table for everyone was, Eva had come back to the table for a drink with Serena, Proctor, Tuck and Chris. She saw all of them turned, looking passed her, watching Allison talking with some other woman.

"Who is that?" Eva asked, a sudden jealousy creeping in her chest.

"I don't know." Serena answered for everyone.

"I want to know…" Chris's voice was low.

"Me too." Both Tuck and Proctor agreed.

Eva turned back to the four of them and glared at the men before looking back to Allison and the other woman.

Serena scooted her chair back so she was sitting next to Eva. She kept her voice quiet so that the boys couldn't hear her, "You know, she told me once that we both had sweet sunshiny faces and that some day Chris was going to notice too late how amazing I was… Could she have unknowingly been talking about herself and you?"

Eva stopped looking to Allison and glared at the other woman, "I haven't a clue of what you're talking about."

"Keep telling yourself that, but it won't make it true…"

Eva rolled her eyes. She paused their conversation for a moment before, "Didn't you also tell me that she had a crush on me?"

"Doesn't mean she doesn't now. Just means that she's getting the attention she deserves." Serena smirked.

Allison felt the stares of everyone at the table and did everything to keep from giving them all a glare.

She looked at Remy, "Yes."

"Yes, I am that mature?" Remy asked.

Allison nodded, "You are. And, yes I will go on a date with you."

"Really?"

"Yeah," the blonde nodded again.

"Well, you uh… You want to get out of here and discuss what we should do on this date?"

Allison gave her a friendly smile, "Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something. And, I'm not that easy. You're gonna have to do more than ask me out before we _discuss_ anything." She smirked, "I _will_ let you walk me to my car though, if you want."

"I want." Remy nodded and let the blonde get up.

She gestured to the parking lot, being cordial as ever. Allison gave her a playful glare as she slapped the hand down, but she didn't fail to let go nor did she fail to interlock their fingers as they walked.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"How do you know I can't get scared?"

Regina stared her in the eye trying to intimidate her, forgetting already that that couldn't happen. She rolled her eyes and looked to the side, "Because I am the Evil Queen. I put a curse on you and myself. You can't feel anything. And neither can I."

"Let me in." Emma pushed passed her and tried to bring Zambrano in as well.

With a flick of her wrist, Zambrano was gone.

The reigns in Emma's hands vanished and her waist felt light and boot empty. She stopped looking around to find that her horse was gone, "Hey! Where did Zambrano go?" She asked then gave her a look, "And don't think I didn't notice that you took my sword, dagger and knife."

"I haven't the slightest clue of what you're talking about."

Emma cocked a challenging brow, "I know who you are and I know everything about you… everything the libraries kept, at least—"

"Most of their 'biographies' are tall tales."

"I don't disagree, but I do know one thing is true. You have a mirror." Emma looked around at the many mirrors that decorated the hallway walls, "Lots of them. Hey, Sir Genie of Agrabah!" she yelled. The genie appeared in one of the mirrors, "Woah." She looked at the genie stuck in the mirror, "Is my horse okay? Where did she put him?"

The genie showed the horse being taken care of—quite generously, being fed apples and carrots already—in a set of stables.

"Is that real or can you show fake images?"

"I cannot." The genie said.

Emma turned to Regina, "All you had to say was the stables… I would have believed you. I can tell when people are lying. That whole not-feeling thing that you gave me as my present for being born? Yeah, it's made it easy for my emotions not to get in the way of my judgments." She quipped.

Regina didn't say anything; she just poofed away.

"Wait… Hey Sir Genie of Agrabah?" She looked back to the mirrors.

He didn't appear.

Emma looked around at the foyer a moment. And when no other person came to her aid, she realized that she was gonna have to find the Evil Queen herself because the woman had basically vanished, so she went searching.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison walked in the next morning to find everyone getting ready for the day. Serena was the first to sidle up next to her, then Chris came on her other side.

"So, uh… So…" Chris started.

"So?" Allison gave him a look.

Serena happily interrupted, "So who's the hottie you went home with last night? I mean… I'm straight, I like the penis. But my God. That woman was… fiiiine. I… I want in her pants."

"Well, if Serena is man enough to admit it, I want in her pants too, but I guess that would have been normal… Seriously though. You guys have a nice night?"

Allison couldn't help but laugh at her new friends. "Oh my gosh." She shook her head, "Okay, she walked me to my car. Nothing happened."

"WHY?!" Both of them asked.

"Because I told her I wasn't that easy. Plus, she wanted to take me on a date. Reconnect and all that."

"_Re _connect?" Serena asked.

"Yeah. She's an old friend. We used to work together… sort of."

"And by 'work together' you mean?" Chris asked.

Allison smirked, "I mean work together."

"Oh…"

Eva stood from her seat on her bench and walked out, "We have three buses and a helicopter on the way here."

Serena saluted the brunette as she walked out. "Yes, ma'am." She glanced over to Allison, "I think someone's jealous." She said as she skipped out of the room.

Chris, as he was prone to, waited for the reaction of one Allison Cameron. And was all too entertained with the blush he saw flush her features.

Allison rolled her eyes, "I really don't Eva would be jealous. Why would she even have reason to be jealous? And I mean, Remy's just an old friend…" She walked out.

Chris eyed the blonde as he followed. Yes, this was all very interesting.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Sir Genie of Agrabah?" Emma whispered as she walked along the hallway.

"Yes, Princess?"

Emma smiled when she saw him appear on a mirror, "Say.. Which room is the Queen's?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"I would just like to pick the next room down so I can be the first thing she sees in the mornings."

"Why?"

This is what was confusing about it, "I don't know."

And she didn't know. She just knew that she could tell that she got under Regina's skin. Though that could be concern for breeching her stellar security and finding out that she was still alive. She might think that she's just like her parents and will try to kill her or imprison her. "I just want to be near the woman that was dead up until 4 hours ago. There's not reason or method of malice. I've just always been fascinated with her and her story—a concern from my parents that it was part of whatever curse Regina put on me…"

The Genie stared at her, "You just want to be near her…?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's a first." He deadpanned before looking to his left by way of pointing, "Back down this hall. Take a right into the hall that has the painting on the left then choose any of the rooms that aren't the third on the left."

Emma smiled and followed instructions to a T. Just as she was going into the second room on the left, Regina walked out of hers.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I need a room to sleep in. This one was empty so…" Emma crossed her arms and sized the brunette up, "That's not a problem is it?"

"The fact that you are here at all is a problem, Princess." Regina rolled her eyes, "Please add on to my problems." She gestured for the room door.

Emma stepped forward and took her hand, "I don't have the same motives as my parents. I'm not here to kill you."

"No, I should say not." Regina pulled from Emma and walked down the hallway.

Emma knit her brows wondering what exactly that meant.

**AN: Thoughts and feels?**


	7. Chapter 7

Emma found the library. She'd always gone on distant searches for libraries, but it was never because she loved to read in general. It was because she was gathering Intel on the woman whose castle she was currently in. Now though, it was because she decided it would be good to see what the witch read for pleasure.

When she saw the ladder and the height of the library walls, she knew she was going to have a long day.

"If I were the evil queen, where would I keep the most precious of books? The ones that no one should find?" She looked at the very bottom row that lined the floor and she craned her neck completely to see the very top row that lined the impressive ceiling. "I have magic… The top." She smirked and started up the ladder.

At the top of the ladder, there was a large ledge that looked deceivingly small from the floor. And there was what seemed to be a hidden row of books. Emma smirked as she sat on the ledge and grabbed the first of twenty or so.

She was about halfway through the books. She'd found that a few of them were spell books and one was in a language she'd never seen. She was more interested in the romance novels she'd found in the secret stash. And that was what she was reading when Regina's voice boomed from just outside the door.

"What do you mean you can't find her?! There are only so many rooms in this castle! Her horse is still here! Find her!"

Emma then heard the doors to the library open and shut. She shut the book she was reading and stuffed it in the back of her trousers—it was actually a pretty good read, and she knew she was going to have to talk assuming the queen saw her.

The queen definitely saw her.

"What are you doing hanging on that ledge?"

"I like an element of danger when I read." Emma gave the queen one of her best flirty smiles—she knew how to flirt, she knew she liked the company of a woman; it's just that every time she got the company of a woman they thought they could fix her. The thing was, was she couldn't be fixed.

"Charming." Regina rolled her eyes, "Get down from there."

Emma looked to the pile of books, "I would Regina, but I'm only about halfway through your hidden collection and—Holy gods!" Emma cried as she felt herself get pulled magically from the ledge and start to fall. She wasn't scared; not because she literally couldn't be scared, but because she felt this innate trust with the Queen that she'd never experienced before.

The Queen didn't let that trust break either. She magically caught the White Princess and held her hovering just inches from the ground.

"I've no idea what you're talking about. I've no 'secret stash' of books."

"Oh, is that why you just magically ripped me from the high ledge there?" Emma looked to where she'd been sitting and back to the queen.

Regina glared and let her magical hold go, causing Emma to finish her fall.

Emma only chuckled as she picked herself back up, "Still not ready to talk to me, eh? But you needed to know where I was? Why is that? And why didn't you just ask the Genie?"

"He's shown me all too many lies today. I couldn't trust him."

"I think you know that he can't lie. At least you didn't dispute when I asked him earlier…" Emma smirked.

"…I don't like you." Regina glared.

"I think you do. If you didn't, you would have ended me by now. You would have ended me when I first set foot on _this_ land. I wonder why I was able to set foot on this land…"

Regina said nothing.

Emma studied the queen as realization dawned on her, "You can't end me unless you want to end part of yourself, can you? And I was able to come to this land and not the illusion because of the same reason, wasn't I?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Chris clapped his hands and rubbed them together, "Allison, you're coming to the bar tonight, right? Oh, no… No you're not. You have a date with 'Remy'." He laughed when Allison blushed furiously and turned around.

Eva and Serena stared wide-eyed at Chris, "You got her to tell you her name? How did you pull that off?"

"I just waited… after you left the locker room yesterday. You know… after you…?"

Serena eyed him and when he glanced to Eva, she understood, "Oh! Yeah…" She turned to Eva, "Eva you coming?"

"Of course I'm coming, why wouldn't I be?" Eva boldly stripped of her scrubs completely, not having a care in the world who ogled her body.

Allison couldn't help but think how out of character that was, then she thanked the heavens as she felt drool coming out of her mouth that both Serena and Chris were a little preoccupied with Eva's state of undress as well.

"I…" Chris said.

Eva walked over to him and Serena and shut their mouths herself, "You're both doctors. Not like it's something you haven't seen before." She turned and gave Allison a look. "Especially you apparently."

Allison merely stared on, nodding along, not realizing that her last comment was kind of offensive and that she was, for all intents and purposes, just called a slut by the woman she was falling in love with. When she did put it together, it was far to late to comment on it. Instead she just scrutinized the Latina with a hard, fixed stare.

She stopped her from leaving with the rest of them after everyone was changed. She grabbed the brunette's arm, turning her back into the room, "You called me a slut."

"I did no such thing."

"I'll have you know that I have done plenty of slutty things, and to some people—even I can be included in that 'some people' category—will attest that I am a slut. But I'm not the one that practically got naked in front of my coworkers for no reason. So don't call me a slut when I don't deserve it; and don't think that I deserve it because I am attracted to women and stared at you when you took your clothes off for no reason. That's kind of a double standard, don't you think?"

"Do you want an apology?"

"No… I want to know what you're not going to tell me." Allison pushed passed Eva, "I want to know why you so boldly took your clothes off and let all three of us ogle you." She shrugged, "But I know that I'm just gonna hear an excuse, so instead, I'm going to go home and get ready for my date. Have fun dancing." The last sentence was spoken sincerely.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Get ready for her date? Please. Who even is that woman? That 'Remy'?" Regina cried as she watched Emma's counterpart walk off into the night going to meet someone that wasn't her counterpart.

"Remy Beauregard Hadley. She worked under House, she replaced Allison as the female duckling after Allison started working in the ER. She's bisexual, which was big entertainment at Princeton Plainsboro, and she's not lying about her dying. She has Huntington's Chorea, she has 8 years or so left." The genie appeared in the mirror as he spoke.

Regina glared in what appeared to be sympathy if the Genie read her right at the last part, but she spoke angrily anyways, "I should have her head."

"I don't think you're angry at Remy. I think this is about Eva's obvious jealousy and regret over not pursuing Allison."

"I think I should rip you out of that mirror so I could have _your_ head." Regina glowered.

Emma had been there more than a week and already Regina was beginning to feel… things.

It was both surprising and unsettling and she wondered if Emma felt anything as well. But she couldn't just ask her. Emma would lord it over her head that the curse didn't work and how entertaining it was the Regina could feel again, or something equally childish.

So, she would retreat. She would retreat and she would watch the life she wanted through her mirror. And when that life she wanted through her mirror angered her like it did just moments before…

She stood from her place and huffed around before deciding she needed to blow off some steam.

"GRAHAM!"

It thundered throughout the castle.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Snow…" Charming walked into his daughter's room to find his wife looking out of the window.

"The storm's over."

"Only today did it finish. She'll be back like she always is. We just need to be patient. Then you can rip into her and ban her from leaving for a while."

"What if she's not okay? Or what if she decides to stay wherever she is?"

"She wouldn't do that."

"What if someone took advantage of her royal status and we're going to receive a ransom?"

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Until then, I'd like to think that our daughter can handle herself seeing as she's the best swordsman in the lands and has her medals that she loves to show off to prove it…"

"You mean that _you_ love to show off to prove it…" Snow shook her head, "I just have a bad feeling this time. Something's happened to her."

Charming held his wife close, "We'll give it a fortnight. If she's not back by then, then we'll worry and send troops and ask our allies for help. Agreed?"

"Unhappily. But yes, I'll wait a fortnight."

~0~0~0~0~0~

The doorbell rang just as Allison got out of her shower. She wrapped her towel around her and quickly ran to the door to reveal one Remy 'Thirteen' Beauregard Hadley.

Remy looked good for a person that was going to die in the next 8 years. She looked better than a healthy person. She looked better than a healthy, sexy person. She was just one of those people that just naturally oozes sex appeal. And she looked damn good while doing it.

She wore a tight white V tucked into black slacks with a skinny blazer and her trademark suspenders down at her sides. Her hair was straight and her eyes were smoky and more catlike than ever.

Allison just about lost her shit. She was already running late from a long shift and she was definitely a hot mess.

"Hi." She said frantically.

"Hi…" Remy unabashedly looked her over, "If you wanted to take a shower, you could have waited on me. I wouldn't mind…" She smirked sexily as she walked into the apartment.

Allison stopped her from greeting her by putting her hand on the brunette's sternum and pressing her against the door after yanking her inside. "No hands. No lips. Not until the end of the date. You may be dying, but you're not dying tonight."

"You sure? I practically just had a heart attack seeing you in this state of undress."

It was Allison's turn to smirk, "Then you might very well be dying tonight if I have any say about our activities later on." She winked to the brunette and walked to her bedroom. She called over her shoulder, "Give me ten minutes."

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Well that does it." Regina stood, "I mean, who does she think she is? Graham?!" She yelled.

Graham came into the queen's quarters, hopeful, "Yes, your majesty?"

"Go find our guest and bring her to me. Now!"

Dejected, he turned to go find the White Princess, "Yes, your Majesty."

~0~

Emma was peering in rooms, glancing around when she came to a room at the end of a long hallway. She looked at the double doors before her a moment then leaned into one to push it open. It was in this moment that an arrow hit the door a mere three inches from her head.

She turned around, "You could have hit me!" She said as she looked at the man she'd presume to be the huntsman. She had yet to meet him; almost thought that folklore lied. Apparently not.

In all of the folklore surrounding the Evil Queen, there were three things one needed to know—technically two until one turned a certain age and became old enough to understand—and those three things were these: 1. The Evil Queen was evil. 2. The Evil Queen had a magic mirror; he was the Genie of Agrabah trapped forever in the looking glass and he could see and hear all. And, 3. The Evil Queen took the Huntsman's heart after he failed to kill Snow White; he then became fervently wanton for her and they shared a bed until Snow and Charming took her life.

"If I wanted." The Hunstman said as he moved toward her, "I never miss." He added once he took hold of he Princess's arms.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked, letting herself be manhandled.

"The Queen wants a word."

"Well, she can find me herself. She doesn't need to send her errand boy—Ow!" She glared at the Hunstman, "Just because I can't feel emotion doesn't mean that I can't feel physical pain!"

"Get moving." He pushed her forward after cuffing her wrists behind her back with old shackles from the basement.

Emma was not a girl to be pushed around, indifferent or not, her parents brought her up to take no one's crap, and that was how she acted. She lowered her arms and stepped backwards through the loop so that she was cuffed from the front before she turned to him and pushed him back, "You could be polite." She glared.

"Or I could be efficient." The Huntsman potato-sacked her.

Emma looked up at the walls as they retreated from the hallway, "I can't argue with that. But If I were an emotional person, I bet that this would be the part that I'd, I'm sure, make some slightly jealous quip about how you want to be efficient so that the Queen will reward you tonight in her bed."

She felt him tighten in anger before he continued on his trek. She decided to let herself be carried down what seemed to be the same hallway over and over before the Huntsman threw her down on her ass.

"Ow!" she glared up at him again, "What did we just talk about? Physical pain and you being a big fat meany. Both of those are not nice," she scrambled up and pushed him again, "So don't do them!"

"Graham." The Queen's voice filled the room.

"Yes, my Queen?" He stared at her unabashedly like he wanted to ravish her.

Emma's eyes bugged as she stared at him then looked to the queen, doing her best to say nothing.

"Go."

The Huntsman clearly wanted to protest, but he didn't, "Yes, my Queen." He bowed and exited the room.

Emma watched him leave then turned to Regina once more, "I guess all those books I've read and people I've talked to knew the truth about two things…" She stared at the honey brown eyes before her.

"And what are those, dear?"

"That the mirror is the Genie of Agrabah. And that you like to fuck the Huntsman, and he is absolutely smitten."

Regina would be lying if she said she wasn't taken slightly aback. She thought for sure that Snow would have to ability to overcome the part of the curse that would make Emma unfit in her actions for the throne. But here she was cursing in front of royalty—dead royalty, but still.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" She asked, her eyes still slightly wide.

"Mm," Emma nodded, "My father too."

"That's no mouth for royalty."

"So they say. I… like everything else in life, don't care if I sound like a royal or not."

"Why? Do you have bigger concerns?"

Emma looked at her, "I did until yesterday."

Regina knew that Emma was watching her like a hawk. She played confusion, like she hadn't figured out what Emma's concern was. "And what were those bigger concerns."

"I think you know."

"And if I don't?"

Emma looked around the room as she made for the door, "I think the Genie of Agrabah could show you."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison donned a sleeveless little red number that had Remy boldly caressing her neck and arms and taking hold of her hips and small of her back all evening. Red was definitely her color.

It was as they were walking out of the restaurant that Remy's hand, the one Allison had hold of was ripped from her own. She knit her brows and turned to find Remy had stopped walking and was staring down at the jerking hand as if it were foreign.

It was the chorea.

Allison couldn't help but cover her mouth; it was heartbreaking watching someone watch their disease take them over.

Finally Remy looked up, "You can't say I was lying now." She tried to laugh it off before she swallowed hard and rolled her eyes before they hardened to stone as she walked closer, "I don't want your pity. Let's get you home."

Her entire demeanor changed. She became rigid and distant, not at all the charming girl that she had always been. She walked Allison to her door but merely as a courtesy.

"Goodnight, Allison. Thanks for the date." Remy didn't even look at blonde as she said it.

Allison had been studying Remy since her hand started twitching. She narrowed her eyes, waiting to meet those ice blue ones, but when they didn't dare meet hers, she inhaled, calming her nerves, breathing in confidence and grabbed the brunette's lapels as she smashed their lips together.

After Allison pulled away, it took a few seconds for Remy's eyes to flutter back open; her dropped jaw did not shut, "I don't understand…"

"Well, it's very simple, Remy Beauregard Hadley." Allison wrapped her arms around the former duckling's neck.

"You know my middle name?"

"It spread around the hospital when you were trying to mess with Foreman that one time…"

"Right."

Allison smirked as she saw the brunette was still dazed. She pecked her again before continuing, "This is the end of the date. And I told you I wasn't that easy that you weren't going to get into my pants that first night we met again… But this is a date. And I am that easy. That easy girl that only needs a free dinner before she gives it up." She pecked her again, "At least for you I'll be that easy."

"Why?"

"Because it's one of your dying wishes to go out with me… I assume that's all extracurriculars included…"

Remy now grinned, "It is."

"I'm not afraid of a little chorea, Remy. I was just surprised. I thought you were going to tell me something… And seeing you watch it was a little heartbreaking." She leaned up and kissed Remy's cheek, "But I'm not afraid of it and I'm not going to let it ruin our evening. That is if you won't…"

Remy nodded, looking off to the side in debate and intrigue for a full minute before she turned back to Allison and walked her backwards into her apartment, kissing her the whole way.

**AN: I gave you two chapters! But please review this one for me before you move on! I always want to know your thoughts and feels!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Generally, Regina comments or is obviously watching Allison and Eva in her mirror and makes a comment after the scene break. Well, there is a flashback that Regina watches in this one, it's handled differently than the others. I just didn't want anyone to get confused! It's talked about and shown in ****_italics_****; there is no actual scene break (~0~0~0~0~0~) for this particular part.**

Eva walked out of her trauma suite, having just brought her patient back from their golden hour. She looked across the trauma bay—she was not looking for Allison, if she per chance happened to see Allison as she casually looked around then so be it. She did see Serena talking to an oddly familiar looking woman who was holding a Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine shaped lunchbox of all things. She knit her brows and continued to the nurses' station to check in.

She heard Serena's laugh and the blonde bid the woman farewell and after she felt her friend's presence, she looked over to the blonde, "Yes?" She smiled at the youngest doctor.

"Lunch?"

"Absolutely." Eva nodded and the two started making their way to the locker room, but they hadn't taken so much as two steps when Allison came from her suite.

They watched her check her watch and then her phone. They watched her knit her brows and look up, passed the both of them to Mystery Machine Lunchbox, and they watched a smile slowly make its way over her face. They watched her walk over to Mystery Machine Lunchbox and they watched them peck each other's lips and hug. Intimately.

Eva moved two steps back and leaned against the nurses' station to watch the interaction.

"You hungry?" Mystery Machine asked.

"I am. Just let me go clean up…"

"You're fine. You're sterile and clean, right?"

Allison smirked flirtatiously, "I wanna get a little pretty for you, is that so much to ask?" Then she whispered something Eva couldn't hear from her spot.

"OH!" Mystery Machine smiled, "Okay. Go to the potty. I'll sit right back down here and wait." And she did as she said.

Allison turned and started making her way to the locker room; she caught Serena and Eva's stares though, "Hi." She smiled and gave a small, awkward wave before moving on.

Serena skipped after the other blonde doctor, "Friend of yours?" she asked knowingly.

Sound sort of fell by the wayside for Eva though. She started to walk after Allison and Serena, but turned back to Mystery Machine. Mystery Machine felt her stare and looked up. She smiled an all too easily charming smile and waved slightly. Eva finally turned and walked to the locker room in a sort of angry daze.

She bumped into Allison coming out by the time she finally made it to the locker room, "Oh sorry, Eva."

Eva stared at her, "Are you dating that person in the lobby?"

"Sort of."

"Sort of? What does that mean? I mean, either you are or you aren't dating someone." Eva's intense brown eyes sucked Allison in.

"Damn Eva. She doesn't have to explain herself to you. If she's 'sort of' dating someone, she's 'sort of' dating them." Serena came over, breaking their staring contest.

"I should go. Remy's waiting on me." Allison walked out of the room.

Serena took in her friend, "Oh. My God. How jealous are you? You were practically salivating over her!—You know, now that you know that she's with someone else of course."

"I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about." Eva moved passed Serena to her locker.

"Don't give me that. You realized that that walk to her car she had a few weeks ago has turned into something and now… You finally admit to yourself that you want her. How messed up are you?"

Eva glared over to her friend, "How's Chris? That whole thing going okay?"

Serena smirked despite the evil in Eva's tone, "That was below the belt, my friend. Below the belt."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Regina uncrossed and crossed her legs the other way. Her arms were folded sharply. She just didn't understand what this Remy person had to offer Allison that Eva didn't. Though she was angrier that it was Allison and only Allison that she knew Eva belonged with.

~0~

Emma had been on her way to hopefully annoy the Queen or get some insight—and yes reveal—that the only time she wasn't indifferent was when she was around the other woman, or thinking of her.

Insight, she got. She just wasn't exactly sure what she was witnessing. She saw herself. She saw Regina. But they looked real funny. They were in a room filled with tiny metal closets and the lights were some sort of magic. It was all too insightful. Emma needed to know more and she had this gut feeling that explanation wouldn't come from Regina.

So, off to the library she went. Off to the secret top shelf of the library she went. She grabbed the spell books that she was at first not necessarily interested in. Now, she realized, she was going to have no choice if she wanted answers fast. And she did. She needed to know what the hell Regina was looking at in her mirror.

"Not that one." The Genie appeared in one of the mirrors that lined the wall. Instead of pictures and paintings, this woman placed mirrors. It made it a little too convenient for the Genie to get around—he could even get to the tops of library shelves. It also almost made it a little too convenient for Emma's death. She almost jumped right off her perch on the top of the shelves, but she quickly recovered and caught herself.

"Excuse me?" She asked him.

"The curse she used. It's not in that one. It's in that purple leather bound one." He gave her a look, "In the middle." He smiled a small, regretful smile, "Just call me if you have questions."

"Thank you, Sir Genie."

Emma started turning the pages to the middle of the book when it flipped all on its own. She stared at the page it had turned to, "A Partially Happily Ever After. What does that even mean?" She started reading.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison looked behind her a couple times on her way back to Remy trying to figure out what just happened in there and what the hell that stare was about.

After rounding the corner though, she put on a smile and walked over to Remy, "Hello again." She greeted the brunette with a kiss.

"Hey." Remy offered her hand and gestured for Allison to lead the way.

Allison brought them to the cement picnic table furthest from the doors, right on the edge of shaded patio.

"Everything all right?" Remy asked.

"Fine…"

"That sexy, brown-eyed girl that you're love sick for gave me a pretty predatory stare."

"Well, that's just swell. Everybody wants to get into Remy's pants."

Remy smirked, "Not a predatory stare as in she's moving in on me, a predatory stare as in I better keep my ugly mitts to myself otherwise I'll wish I was dead."

Allison looked up to Remy in surprise. But she refused to believe it, "She did not."

"She did." Remy looked over to see Eva and Serena walking out. "I'll prove it to you. Come here." Remy leaned over and kissed Allison's cheek, "I'm gonna walk around to your side of the table, sit next to you and kiss on you. She will come over and ask us all about how long we've known each other, where I came from, how serious we are. You know, basic relational questions." Remy stood and walked around, sitting right next to the blonde, wrapping her arm around her. She kissed her neck before continuing, "And she will be doing this all while trying to hide her feelings for you and secretly wanting to die." She kissed Allison's neck again.

Then after the blonde turned to look at her, she kissed her lips, both had their eyes open for the first kiss, Remy just telling Allison to trust her and Allison accepting that trust though still skeptical.

It wasn't but three seconds after they started kissing on the lips did they get interrupted by one Dr. Eva Zambrano.

"Afternoon."

Remy and Allison both turned. "Afternoon." Remy smiled.

Eva hated the woman with every fiber of her being. Was she not creative enough to come up with her own greeting? Honestly…

Eva set her lunch down, "Mind if we join you?" She gestured to Serena who hadn't quite decided she wanted to join them as she was still a couple tables away.

"Uh. Sure, Eva!" Allison smiled innocently up to the brunette.

She should never act so innocent. Eva smiled back as she sat down firmly. She looked over to Serena, who was reluctantly making her way to sit with them.

"Well, hello again, Dr. Warren." Remy smiled over to the other blonde.

"Serena. Please." She dismissed the formality. And when she saw Allison's questioning eyes, she immediately started explaining, "I saw her after I finished with my patient. I asked if she was waiting to hear about someone, she was just waiting on you." She smiled over to the other sunshiny blonde.

"So." Eva started before anyone else could speak, "What is your name?" She looked at Remy.

"Remy Hadley." Remy took her hand from around Allison and extended it to Eva.

Eva took it, ever polite, "Eva Zambrano."

"Zambrano? That's an interesting last name, where is your family from?"

"Cuba." She the country's name authentically—i.e. she didn't let her Americanized accent she's had since she was three pronounce the 'u' like 'you' but with a double 'o'.

"Oh." Remy half-glanced at Allison, "Well that's the sexiest thing I've ever heard." She said flatly before she fully turned to the blonde at her side and enthusiastically repeneted, "Please don't put me on the metaphoric couch for saying that."

Allison could only shake her head and blush. She looked down at the lunchbox and decided it was time for a change of subject because if it stayed with Eva and her Spanish-speaking ways, or just on Eva, she might have to crawl into a hole and die. She tugged on the handle of the lunchbox and brought it over to Remy, "What did you bring me for lunch?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Ohoho… _Remy_ thinks she's so smart, does she?" Regina rolled her eyes. She didn't want to watch anymore of that.

Something had been plaguing her though. Something Emma said the second day she was here.

"Genie?"

"Yes my queen?"

"What did our…White Princess mean when she said that she had 'bigger concerns' than coming to kill me?"

"Are you sure you want—?"

"Just show me." Her voice dropped and the last, vulnerable word was not heard, "Please."

The Genie faded from his mirror.

_"NO! Emma! It's a trap! Don't you see?!" Alexandra brought her axe upright and started making her way forward._

_"No!" Emma put her hand up, stopping the other girl, "She's just sad and lonely. She's this way because of our parents. If we're the 'good' our mommies and daddies fought for, then the least I can do is show her a little kindness." She stared the other princess in the eyes, "Go on. You shouldn't get all mixed up in this. This started with my momma, but I have to end it. Rally the troops and go home. I'll be fine. I promise."_

_"Emma, no!" Alexandra tried, "I'll stay too."_

_"No. Go on. She's not gonna hurt me, I promise."_

_"You can't guarantee the actions of an evil witch!"_

_Emma smiled, "I can." She motioned for Alexandra to go, "I'll be fine."_

_Alexandra looked at the other princess with desperate eyes before she nodded and ran out of the center of the maze and started winding herself back to the entrance._

_Emma laid down on the bench behind the evil queen. She wrapped her arms around the imaginary girl protectively, "I can try to make you happy." She swallowed, "I have to warn you though, I don't feel a lot of things, I don't get all gooey and emotion-filled. My momma and daddy think it's because of you. I'm not sure if they're right or wrong, but I know logicalistically that good shouldn't hunt down evil and take their life for something they don't even know hurt their baby." She sighed, "I'm not supposed to know that they did that, but I do. And I don't think you deserved death."_

Regina turned from the mirror, "She stayed with me." She said softly.

"Yes my queen."

"Tell me, how were you able to show me the teeny, tiny version of myself that she saw?"

"I'm the magic mirror. I can hide what people don't want to see, I can show the literal, but I find I'm most useful when I show the truth. And that teeny, tiny version of yourself is what Emma saw and who Emma chose to stay with. She looks awfully familiar. I mean, the White Princess was spot on, don't you think?"

Regina stood. "I think she needs to leave. Something might happen to the curse if she doesn't." She started for the door.

"And would that be such a terrible thing?" The Genie called after her.

Regina glared as she turned back to him. He saw the fireball coming and faded out of sight before his mirror shattered.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Why did the curse need me though? I just don't understand…" Emma stood from the big comfy chair she'd found in the library and looked at the Genie.

"Because it's a curse. It wouldn't be evil if all it required was sending her. All curses require an evil act, that's what make them curses."

"Doesn't it just kind of, I don't know, destine the two of us together? It sounds like some sort of pathetic love story: Two unfeeling people. Both cursed. One is broken enough to cast the curse, one is destined to break it. I mean. It's like one of these stupid romance novels Regina keeps hidden up there." Emma pulled one of the novels from the back of her trousers—she always made sure to keep one on her for if the mood strikes.

"One of the romance novels she keeps hidden up there and you keep finding again to read on your own." The Genie smirked.

"Why are you smirking?"

"I'm sorry Princess, but you claim that you feel nothing, yet all I've really heard you talk about is love and trust."

Emma paced, "My parents love. They love one another so deeply. I've always wondered what it's like… to feel my heart quicken at just the sight of my true love, to be able to have a conversation that goes on and on and you just lose track of the time, to hold another person and feel content, like everything is going to be okay. I've wondered about passion. I've wondered about jealousy and hate, sure, but passion… pure unbridled passion…" She shrugged, "I've wondered. Never felt it. But I've wondered." She threw the book on the coffee table and sat back down in her chair. She cleared her throat and smoothed her brows as she leaned forward to sit with her elbows on her knees, "So, this feeling, healing part of the both of us was sent to this other place, other realm…"

"Earth."

"Yes. 'Earth.' Where exactly is that? What exactly is that?" She looked over to the Genie.

"Earth houses humans, only humans and some animals. There are no witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, goblins, dragons, fairies, demons—nothing mystical of any kind. There is no magic on Earth. But the parts of you that were taken and put on Earth. You're both doctors."

"A doctor. That makes sense, since it's the healing part of me."

"Indeed." The genie nodded.

"What happened after we were sent to this 'Earth'?"

"The curse put you both in the same country. Different states—"

"States?"

"Uhm, territories. Different territories, but the same country."

"And?"

"You both were put there as babies, made memories. You both grew up, became doctors. Time is faster there than here, you're both in your early thirties there."

"Doctors. That makes sense seeing as it's our healing, feeling parts of us."

Genie took in Emma's concentrated face; he knew she didn't know what question to ask next, so he decided to provide a simple fact for her so she would know, "Your other selves were never supposed to meet. I saw you walk in on Regina watching them; I know what's prompted this sudden urge to understand the curse."

"They were never supposed to meet. How is that possible?"

"Humans on Earth are not unlike people and beings here; they're creatures of habit. And the whole of the United States houses 314 million people let alone the states you two were put in. Allison was put in Illinois, which holds almost 14 million, and Eva in Florida, which has about 19 million people. There was no cause for alarm. Ever. There was no possible way that you two could have met."

"Except we did?"

"You did."

"How?"

"You."

"Me?"

He nodded, "Your Earth-self lives with her heart on her sleeve, not unlike your parents. Regina's was more reserved in her life. Hers never really dated a lot or loved. But Allison… Allison loved and lost and that pattern continued. She's also what's known on Earth as a 'runner'."

"A runner?"

"Yes, when things get bad and there's no way back, she picks up and moves and starts over. She did that after her first great love died and moved to from Illinois to New Jersey. And then she ran again, but this second time, it was after she dubbed two great loves monsters. She changed her profession and moved to Florida."

"So, I'm not a doctor anymore?"

"You are, you're just a completely different kind of doctor. You became a surgeon. A trauma surgeon. And that's what Eva had been all along."

"And Eva is Regina?"

"Yes, Princess."

"Who am I?"

"Allison Cameron."

Emma gave a wary look at that name, unsure how she felt about being an 'Allison'; she decided she could work with it though, "So, Allison picked up and moved to Florida and what? We work together?"

"Yes, Princess." The Genie gave her an obvious look.

"Oh… Well, I don't see what the problem is…"

"The problem is Allison and Eva like each other. But Eva waited too long to say anything and now Allison has started dating Remy."

"Dating? What's dating?"

"A date is an outing in which two people, two probable love matches go out and share a romantic evening. Dating is a term used to qualify the fact that two probable love matches are in a relationship—the beginnings of one at least. People on Earth are entirely too fixated on who's with whom and how serious it is. So, when it's still new and the two love matches don't want to call their significant other what they are, they say they're dating. If they stick together, that graduates to 'being in a relationship' or 'partners' or 'girlfriends, girlfriend/boyfriend, boyfriends' or 'lovers'—the list goes on and on."

"That sounds entirely too complicated. But a date sounds nice."

"It's not nice, not in the queen's eyes. Not as it is now, anyways."

"Why?"

"Because she wanted Allison and Eva to get together—of course that was before she realized that Allison was your counterpart. Now, I think the queen is confused."

"Because she both doesn't want and wants Allison to date Remy—that was that other girl's name, right?—and she wants and doesn't want Allison to be with Eva? In that order just like that? Because I confuse her just as much as she confounds me?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Huh… How do you know all of this anyways?"

The genie disappeared from his mirror.

"Genie?" Emma rolled her eyes. Just when she was getting somewhere with someone in this super secret castle…

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison stared down at her phone as she took a break in the locker room. She laughed a bit as she read her text from Remy.

"What's so funny?"

Allison looked up to see Eva walking to her locker with nothing but a towel on, still glistening and dripping.

Allison's jaw snapped shut after realizing she was about to start drooling. She quickly collected herself and avoided looking her way at all costs, "Remy. She's just… being silly."

Eva turned and stared at her, "Ah. Remy. I should have known that smile had something to do with the ever charming Remy Hadley."

Allison thought she heard jealousy. But she could never be sure. She did know for a fact that Remy Beauregard Hadley did not have a fan in one Dr. Eva Zambrano, which was surprising because all a person had to do was look at Remy and they would turn to mush.

She did chance a glance over to Eva again, once she was feeling brave enough, she spoke. "You don't like Remy. Everyone has picked up on that. Even Proctor and he has no idea who Remy is." Eva turned and stared at the blonde, which for some reason gave Allison encouragement—maybe it was because she looked guilty, "I don't need my coworkers to get along with the person I spend extracurricular time with; what I want to know is why do you so severely hate this woman that you hardly know?"

Eva shook her head and she quickly yanked on her clothes, not wanting to be in the room any longer than she needed to be, "I don't _hate_ her."

"You very much dislike her. Why?"

"I don't know her… I have nothing bad to say about her… I mean, she doesn't seem like the kind of girl you should get mixed up with; it seems she's got a lot of stories and probably a few diseases to go along with them, but who am I to judge?" Eva dug her feet into her sneakers and walked out.

Allison watched the door shut with raised brows.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Damn." Emma said from her spot on the couch—which was the entire couch she'd gracelessly sprawled out on to watch Allison and Eva interact.

"Yes."

"If Eva is Regina, then how come she doesn't do that when I'm around? How come she doesn't get huffy and prissy and superior? How come she doesn't…?" Emma trailed off. She didn't want to say the word 'feel' out loud. That would be admitting that she herself had been feeling and might just feel things for Regina and that's just preposterous.

The Genie picked up on what she was asking. Instead, he pretended he didn't hear the beginnings of her last question. "Princess, she's always huffy and prissy and superior." He deadpanned.

Emma laughed, it was the only thing she could do, "I hope she never hears those words come out of your mouth; I'd hate to see what she would do to you."

"Yes. That would be a shame." Regina's voice filled the room.

"Your majesty!" The Genie looked at his queen with wide eyes. He knew he shouldn't have given Regina the ability to be unseen; and he knew he should have answered her call for him.

"You know, after I called you for the third time and you didn't show up, I decided to try and find out just what it was that was keeping you tied up. I come to find it's not a game of chess with Graham, no. It's our White Princess and the world she's to know nothing about." Regina glowered at the mirror, waiting for him to leave before she turned to the blonde woman.

"So Princess, when will your… flattering presence leave us to our secrecy, hmm?"

Emma shrugged and took a few casual steps from the queen, "I don't know. I was kind of thinking of hanging around a while."

"'Hanging around'?" Regina shook her head, "This isn't the first time you've watched them."

"No it's not and I have a question for you. Why didn't you tell me about them?"

"It didn't concern you. It's nothing you needed to know in order to live your life."

Emma only crossed her arms and stared at the other woman. That, she was not buying.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Serena walked into the locker room with a weird look on her face, "Everyone decent?" She didn't bother looking before she opened the door, "Eva, there is a very fine, very large Australian man here to see you." She let the very fine, very large man in the locker room.

Eva turned with a smile, "Sam, hey. Just a second I just need to put on my shoes."

Chris buckled his belt and walked over to the guy sizing him up. Sam was about five inches taller than him and had a little more muscle. After a short staring contest, Chris turned, patting Sam's shoulder, "I like him." He started making his way out, giving Allison and Serena a look that told them the dude was intimidating his fragile male psyche.

Allison and Serena then turned back to Sam.

"Hello." He smiled at them.

"Hi." They both said.

Eva walked over to the man and took his arm, "Girls, this is Sam. Sam? This is Serena, who you've already met, and this… is Allison." Eva stared the other woman down, looking for any ounce of jealousy.

Allison stepped forward, "It's nice to meet you."

"You as well." He looked at them, "So are you all doctors?"

Allison and Eva looked to one another, "Uh, yeah. We are."

"That's so cool! Thanks for saving people's lives." He gave them both a smile before turning to Eva, "You ready?"

Eva was still staring at the seemingly unfazed Allison, but answered anyways, "Yeah." Her tone was somewhat dejected.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"How was she not jealous?" Regina asked from her seat in her room.

"Well, she might just be jealous and is a really good actress. Also, Australian probably wasn't a good choice as her last husband, one of the monsters, was Australian."

Regina grit her teeth and looked off to the side as she drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Eva was heading for the locker room late that night. Her patient had a few complications and she wanted to be on the ready in case anymore arose. She was tired and she knew she was starting to smell. She just wanted to change and go—maybe even just go home. What she saw when she walked into the locker room was the last thing she needed to end her day.

There, before her, was Dr. Allison Cameron. Half-naked. That would have been fine, but it was the fact that she was joined by Remy Hadley, also half-naked, kissing Allison, holding Allison, making Allison moan. That set her off.

She slammed the door shut and stalked over to her locker. It took four or five tries for her combination to work, but when it did, oh how the door slammed against the others.

She glared at both women after grabbing her bag as she made her way out of the locker room.

"Well that kind of Debbie Downs our last hurrah…" Remy said as she moved for her shirt.

"We shouldn't be doing that here anyways. You'd think by now I would have learned my lesson…" Allison sighed as she grabbed her own shirt and put it back on before buttoning her pants.

Remy eyed the woman, "That's the reaction you wanted from House that one time with Chase, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." The blonde looked down as if getting scolded, but she had a smile on her face.

"That's why we were doing what we were doing here, wasn't it?" The smirk Remy received was all she needed, "Can we go back to your place to finish what we started before I leave?"

"I would love to… I have a big send-off dinner prepared and everything."

"I'm not going to war."

"Kind of you are. Sure, you're only traveling around the world, but you're battling your disease everyday and I don't know if we're ever going to see each other again…" Allison tilted her head, "That's kind of like war…"

Remy inhaled deeply and sighed, "I guess it's kind of like war."

"It deserves a send-off dinner."

"You how much I like food."

Allison giggled, "I do. And I've come to learn how much you like me naked…" She straightened her clothes and moved to the door.

"Food and you naked? I'm so glad that I had the nerve to come up to you at that bar…"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Charming thought that this particular morning would bring a thorn to his side, he just didn't realize how quickly he would be pricked. He walked into the dining hall for breakfast and instead found Ella, Thomas, Alexandra, Ruby and Granny Lucas, the dwarfs, Hook and Baelfire.

He couldn't help the eye roll that he gave as he heard his wife's all too awake voice, "Oh good. You're up." Snow stood, "It's been a fortnight. We're going to find our daughter."

"And just where do you propose we start searching, my love?" Charming gave her his best 'I've agreed and we're now doing it your way whether anyone likes it or not' smile.

Snow stood giving everyone a map of her lands, "I've had our guards searching the major towns and surrounding areas of our lands," She looked to the other rulers, "I was hoping you might do the same?"

"Of course." Ella nodded. She was a mother too, she knew if anything happened to Alexandra, or if Alexandra just didn't come home like Emma, she'd be doing the same thing.

"And I figured we could start looking in the outer stretches and the guards would eventually catch up or find her then find us."

Alexandra was rolling the table cloth between her fingers as she listened, "No offense, Snow, but you're going to an awful lot of trouble."

Everyone in the room turned to stare at the young princess.

"Alexandra." Ella's scolding tone was more than that, it was threatening. She leaned in and whispered, "Don't let your personal ill feelings over the White Princess override your sense of judgment and sympathy."

Alexandra gave her mother a short, straight glare as she grit her teeth, "I'm not." She stood and moved to the White Queen, "I didn't mean you shouldn't look for her. I just meant that you're acting as if you've never met your daughter…"

Hook had to hide his amusement in his good hand; Red had to give him an obligatory slap to the arm even though she was fighting her own wolfish grin at the young princess's words.

Snow eyed the young girl, "And where do you think we should look?"

"I think she's at the one place she's always wanted to be. I think that with all her indifference there has been one thing that brought out emotion and one thing that possibly confused her, made her question. And I think she's finding answers. I'm pretty sure everyone would agree that she's only ever run off to try to find one spot. And I'll bet this time, she's found it, and that's why she hasn't come home."

**AN: Please Read and Review! I will try to remember to post again tomorrow! There are 13 chapters of this fic, so we're over halfway done!**


	9. Chapter 9

Emma was finishing one of the romance novels that Regina pretended she wasn't hiding. She was in the closed-off west patio that held the apple tree, and she would be lying if she said she hadn't plucked an apple from its clutches just so she could try the 'Evil' Queen's forbidden fruit. She was leaning against the wall as she sat on the hip height, cement barrier that doubled as a flowerbed wrapping around the western patio. The patio was made to show the tree off, that was for sure, and it did exactly what it was supposed to do.

Daylight had been burnt up and she would be forced to go back inside if she wanted to continue. Thankfully, she just finished the part where the lovers break up and one of them moves away—at least she wasn't right in the middle of it. Instead of going back inside, she started wondering why lovers did that. She wondered why her counterpart did that.

If lovers loved each other like they said, why do some, like herself apparently, just up and walk away when it gets hard? She wasn't saying this part herself, the part of herself that she grew up with, was perfect or even capable of loving fully and truly, but she knew herself well enough to know that if she ever did get the pleasure, there was no way she'd let that girl (let's be honest: that she'd let Regina) go. Or at least she hoped she wouldn't.

But knowing that her alternate did exactly what she would never want to do if she had feelings, had emotions—Oh, who was she kidding? She started feeling things the minute she saw Regina; the minute she stepped onto the castle grounds. There was no reason for her to still be in castle. The storm had come and gone, but she needed to stay. She felt things here, with Regina. She felt jealousy of Graham. And it hurt, sure, but she wasn't going to give that up. Feeling anything besides indifference was powerful to her. She just hoped that Regina felt things too. She pulled both feet up and wrapped her arms around them and looked up at the now bright stars as she continued to think on this.

And as she continued to think on this, regal footfalls got closer and closer. Soon, the Queen walked out to look over her tree.

"Nice night." Emma spoke up from her little spot. She finally grabbed up the apple she'd picked and took a large bite from it.

Regina turned and watched on, appalled that the blonde had the gall to eat her fruit in front of her face, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Sitting. Thinking."

"About?"

Emma showed her the book, "Why do you think that two people that are so obviously in love and meant to be can't get over the tiny things and be together?"

"I don't know what you're asking." Regina stared at the book with a little too much recognition, "I don't even know what that book is." She turned quickly from the blonde.

Emma took another large bite and chewed on it before she came up behind the brunette, pressing ever so slightly into her, "I think.." she swallowed her apple, "That you do."

She paused a moment, letting her breath fall into Regina's ear, "This is why I'm grateful that you cursed my feelings to Earth… If I had to deal with having to dissect every little thing and concluding that I don't belong with someone because of outside circumstances that shouldn't matter because all that should matter is if both people love each other and think they can make a life together, then I'd probably be emotionally stunted, pissed at the world and for all intents and purposes in the mindset that I'd be forever alone by now. Instead… I'm just apparently and obviously broken. But not to worry, I have a whole fleet of lovely ladies that think they can fix me."

Emma waited, knowing that if Regina was feeling things because of her just like she was feeling things because of Regina that the mention of bedding someone else would irk her. She'd read, heard and seen too many romances to know that that was the only option. She thought she heard a catch in Regina's throat, but she couldn't be sure.

"I'm not saying I don't warn 'em, but that doesn't stop them from trying to fix the broken White Princess."

Regina turned, unimpressed, "So, you bed women that pity you? You take advantage of their hopes and take what you want. It seems my curse worked far too well; your Charming parents would never do something like that."

"My Charming parents are freaks of nature that have to find each other constantly. But they do know how to love. I understand the concept, envy it even I suppose… I admire it at least, but I know the odds of finding the ability to feel, to love are none to none. Right?" Emma watched every slight movement the brunette made, "So, I look for love' fleeting glances just like everybody else. I'm no different than you Regina. You take advantage of Graham because you literally have his heart and he wants you. I take advantage of this girl and that because they're attracted to my 'broken-ness' and they want to fix me and show me that love exists."

"We're not the same, Princess. I sleep with a man whose heart I took. One man. One heart. You've taken what I'm going to assume is many, many hearts and broken them. None of the many hearts I've taken are broken. Graham's heart isn't broken; it's just not in his chest. Those girls that you let try to fix you, you break each one of them when you send them away like they're one of your maids that did you a service and you know it."

The beginnings of tears started pricking the blonde's eyes, "I suppose if I felt emotion, I'd feel regret and be angry with myself."

Regina stared into those glossy eyes. Did she feel? "But you don't."

"And neither do you."

Regina swallowed hard and turned, going back inside. She stopped at the door, "You know the rain's come and gone."

"I do."

Regina dared looking back to find a waterfall of blonde facing her. She could see Emma was looking up at the stars and it looked like her hands were at her eyes. She continued her trek inside.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison shut the door and locked it. She sighed as she thought about how hard life was going to be without an entertaining fuck buddy to distract her from her problems—and in Remy's case, help her sort them out.

It had become an agreement between them that Remy would stay for two more months as they both liked the sex and Remy liked Florida okay. But those two months had come and gone and they both knew that they would be kidding themselves if Remy stayed and they really tried something. They had great chemistry, but there would be the whole Remy's dying and, oh yeah, Allison's in love with another woman thing; they figured that wouldn't work so well in a relationship.

So came the naked send off dinner and Remy's insanely early flight. She had to leave in the middle of the night just to get to the airport on time. Her first stop was Africa. And from there, she would figure it out. She told Allison that she would send her a post card from each place she went to and they promised each other that they would keep in touch. But neither was sure how long that would last.

Allison sighed as she picked up a champagne flute and poured a little more. She toasted to the air, "Here's to you, Dr. Remy 'Thirteen' Beauregard Hadley." She really was going to miss Remy. But she needed to get on with her life now.

She downed her glass, cleaned up the kitchen, showered, opted for her comfy, fluffy bath robe over pajamas, and was about to settle in for some late night, much needed time with Netflix when the pounding on her door sounded. It both scared her and made her wonder if Remy came back for some reason that she wasn't going to be able to handle emotionally.

She padded quietly over to the door and looked in the peephole.

She quickly unlocked it and opened the door, "Eva?"

Eva looked Allison over. She could tell that she was probably naked under her robe and with suddenly dead eyes she looked over Allison's shoulder. "Iss she here?"

"Is who here? Remy? No—"

"Good." Eva pushed into the apartment. Allison smelled the alcohol on her breath as she passed her. "There's ssomethin' I've been tryin' t'say."

"Are you drunk?"

"Completely. Well… Enough to make me able to say it. Not enough that won't forget…everything in the morning." Eva looked around, "Where is she?"

"She's not here."

"But she's always somewhere close. Always bringing you lunch or..fucking you in the locker room. Where'd the bitch go?"

Allison's jaw jut to the side. This was going to be a long night, dealing with a drunk bitch that, for reasons unknown to her, wound up on her doorstep. She decided not to comment on Remy's new nickname for now, but she was sure it was only a matter of time before she would. "Africa." She answered simply.

Eva's head drooped a bit as she concentrated on that one word for a moment or two. She was trying to decide if Allison was kidding. "Fine. Don't tell me. But let me talk, 'cause I got stuff I need to say to you, Woman."

_Woman? 'Woman' in the 'make me a sandwich; listen to me' tone? Oh, hell no. _Allison raised her brows, "Why should I let you do anything when you barged into my place drunk off your ass calling Remy a—What the hell?" She turned her head just in time and felt soft, delicious, whiskey flavored lips against her cheek. She pushed Eva away even though every part of her wanted to pull her in and kiss her for real for all she was worth. Instead, she wiped her cheek.

Eva didn't know how to react. She turned and looked I around the apartment some more before she turned to Allison again with desperation in her voice, "You shouldn't be with her!" She finally got the words out.

"Why not?"

Desperation quickly turned to bitter superiority, "Because she's not the kind of girl you settle down with. She's not the kind of girl you marry. She's the kind of girl that pulls you into her charming clutches and ruins your life. She's probably cheating on you."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Allison's tone was harsh.

"You said that you were sort of dating her. She didn't want the commitment. Because she wanted to more easily talk her way out of her adultery."

"That's not what 'sort of' dating meant."

"You might want to get tested. I still won't be surprised if she has a disease or two."

Allison had enough, "As a matter of fact, she does have a disease."

"…And you still slept with her?!"

"She has Huntington's!" Allison yelled angrily at the other woman.

"What?" Eva looked at her sobering slightly before she sat down.

Allison calmed, "She's got Huntington's. She's dying. She's got 8 more years if she's lucky. The chorea started early, so she set about traveling the world as she's officially hit the beginning of her end. She hit all the major cities in the states, stopped by here in hopes that she'd see me."

The blonde had tears in her eyes, "She said that one of her many, many regrets was not taking advantage of my husband being a jackass and trying to comfort me, or stopping us from getting married and waiting a healthy amount of time before she ruined our, what would have been, 'developed healthy friendship'. She wanted one night with me. One date. I gave her two months because no one has ever wanted me like she seemed to."

Allison stood angry once more, "So again, I will say that you have no idea what the hell you're talking about!"

Eva looked off to the side. She had the sense to feel shame, but she was a woman on a mission. Nothing was going to stop her. "I do."

"You do? You do know what you're talking about? That's rich. This coming from a woman that tells me to get tested but sleeps with god knows how many men that she meets in a bar!"

Eva shook her head. She stared at the blonde with her next words, "I want you like no one else. I've been… so jealous and angry lately. I've turned into a different person. I slept around—I never sleep around. I flaunted a random guy I didn't care about…" A tear rolled down her face, "And it was all because I couldn't get those three words out: I want you." She licked her bottom lip as she debated on speaking more.

"I want you too."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma knocked politely on Regina's door. She'd washed her clothes that afternoon and took a bath. She was clearly trying to look her best.

Regina opened the door harshly, ready to maim someone with words when she saw the White Princess looking crisp and clean, "What?"

"I was hoping you might accompany me to dinner."

"Why? You've not needed my company for a meal yet, why start now?"

Emma smiled, "It seems like something we should have done together by now, don't you think? I also want to apologize for my behavior last night, practically bragging about my conquests in the bedroom. It was inappropriate."

"Yes. Your mother would be appalled."

Emma looked down and around before offering the queen her arm, "Will you have dinner with me?"

Regina eyed her and delicately, suspiciously linked her arm with Emma's, "I suppose. Seeing as you're seemingly refusing to leave even though the storm's over with."

"I just don't feel as though I'm done here." Emma spoke sincerely as she walked them along the hallways.

Regina wasn't quite sure what to do with that, so she didn't continue the conversation. The only time she did speak was when Emma bypassed the dining hall. "Where are you going? The dining hall is—"

"I thought the east patio would be nice."

"'Nice'?"

"Yes." Emma led Regina to the eastern patio.

When Regina saw the intimate, romantic candlelit table she just about turned around and went back to her room, "What is this?" She asked, unimpressed.

"I was hoping a date."

"A date? My gods, how often does the Genie let you watch them?"

Emma chose not to answer directly, "…I've picked up a few things."

"And you wanted to take me on a date? Why?"

"Well, it's logical." Emma took a breath to speak, but was cut off.

"Logical?"

"Yes."

"How is two unfeeling people dating logical?"

"Just because we don't feel doesn't mean we don't have things to say or ways of doing things. And because we don't feel we could fuck and that's all it'd ever be. You wouldn't have to string Graham along, which I know you don't necessarily like but feel is a necessity to keep up appearances and all that, and I wouldn't break any more hearts. We'd both get that release when we needed and—"

"You're serious. You really think that I would want to have sex with you? You're a child."

"Doesn't mean, I couldn't show you things. And just because I'm a little younger than you—"

"You're not a little younger than me. You could be my child."

Emma smirked, "But I'm not. I'm just your curse; the same age, maybe a little younger than you as you haven't aged at all. And that's where I want to point out that you owe me."

"So giving you my body, whoring myself out to you would pay off my debt of cursing you? My gods, what kind of princess are Snow and Charming raising?"

"They've done the best they can raising a girl that doesn't feel emotions." Emma crossed her arms.

"Oh so you _do_ blame me. It seems I apparently left enough emotion for you to feel blame."

"I don't blame you." Emma's eyes softened, "You were trying to make yourself happy. After everything you've been through, everything my family and your mother have put you through… taking my emotions was the least you could do."

"You are walking on broken glass, dear Princess. You have no idea of what you speak."

"I think I've a pretty good idea, Regina. It's not just Allison and Eva I've watched. Just like it's not just Allison and Eva you've watched."

Regina turned away from the blonde, "I've no idea what you're talking about."

"I think you do. I think you watched me and Alexandra playing 'Evil Queen' and I think you saw what I would do every time it came time to kill you."

"Oh?" Regina turned and quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes. And I also think you know what all of this, this date, is about."

"I'm afraid I don't."

"You want the curse broken as much as anyone else." Emma's jaw tightened.

Regina gave the princess a look, "There's no way for that to happen. This is one curse that can't be broken."

"There's always a way to break a curse."

"Enlighten me."

Regina was in Emma's space. They were sharing the same air. Emma grabbed the back of the brunette's head and brought her in for the best kiss either woman had ever experienced. When they pulled from each other, they knew nothing had changed. They knew that what Emma just tried was foolish and impossible.

It's true that true love's kiss could break any curse, but what happens when neither of the parties of that love believe that they feel that love or understand that they do in fact feel that love, let alone anything at all?

Regina wiped her mouth, "You talk a fanciful story. It's no wonder you've bedded so many women. The next time you try that with me, I'll take your heart and I'll crush it to dust." She paused and raised a hand, not letting Emma interrupt her, "I don't care that it will be my demise as well." She stormed off into the hallways, "GRAHAM!"

Emma pulled out her chair and stared at the meal she'd personally prepared. She never told anyone, but she was partial to cooking. And she wanted to share that with Regina on their date. The feelings that she was still so unsure of, hesitant of constricted in her heart. She didn't like that at all.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Eva looked up surprised at hearing the words, "What?"

"I've wanted you my whole life." Allison said softly. "I know this might sound crazy, but I've been dreaming of you for as long as I can remember, your name isn't Eva in my dreams, it's Regina. But you are definitely Regina, or I guess Regina is definitely you without a doubt."

Eva sat there, jaw dropped, "That's not crazy at all." She stood and walked over to the blonde, "You're name is Emma Swan White in mine. You're a tomboy, and a princess."

Allison stared at Eva, making sure she heard her right; that Eva was telling her that the same thing happened to her. Then she smiled, "Your full name is Regina Mills. You're a Queen. An Evil Queen that isn't evil."

Eva sat down on the couch, Allison sat on the edge of her coffee table facing her. Eva stared at the blonde, "I wonder what that means?... I'm probably a little too drunk to be thinking about that in depth though."

"Probably. You want some coffee?" Allison moved to start up her Keurig.

"I want you."

The blonde turned and gave the brunette a shy smile, "We've already discussed that." She curled her hair behind her ear.

"Doesn't mean I want you any less now… I'm gonna keep telling you I want you now that I finally said it to begin with."

Eva's drunken words made Allison's stomach flutter around a little. She smiled, "I want you too." She waited for that smile to grace Eva's face before she moved to the kitchen.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma sat in her room, the room she'd chosen to be hers at least. She thought it smart the first night, picking the room right next to the queen's, but it wasn't. 22 years of wear and tear on a castle without a ton of upkeep can make the room's walls thin out. She could hear everything.

She turned sideways and covered her ear with a pillow as the queen's overly dramatic pants and sighs and Graham's enthusiastic grunts came through. She was probably a masochist. That's why she was in her room instead of anywhere else in the castle.

"She feels too."

Emma sat up, scrunch-faced and stared at the mirror, "What?"

"She feels things." The genie said, "That's why she's doing what she's doing. She thinks you don't. That's why she thinks the kiss didn't work."

"How do you know?"

"I know everything." When Emma still gave him a look of question, he sighed, "I've known the Queen a very, very long time. She acts out when she feels and she hasn't acted this…randy in quite some time."

"Oh." Emma looked at the comforter on the bed.

"She's angry."

"Oh?" She looked back to the genie.

"She thinks that her other part's happiness will affect her ability to be happy here, once all her feelings come back."

"How are all her feelings going to come back?"

"Well, I'd imagine true love's kiss."

Emma knit her brows, "But… We already—!"

The Genie gave her a look, "Keep in mind that there are two sets of you, two sets of you that are able to feel—that have always been able to feel when it matters."

"I haven't always been able to feel when it matters. I wouldn't have, as Regina so eloquently put it, 'taken hearts and broken them' from as many young ladies as I have if I were able to feel when it matters."

"But you have." He looked off, "That's why you never looked them in the eyes when you broke things off."

Emma began pacing angrily, "So say I can feel when it matters, say we both can feel when it matters. It matters now, it mattered last night! I kissed her and what do we have to show for it? Our death if I ever try to kiss her again and her fucking the huntsman! This curse can't be broken and even though we can feel around each other, she wants nothing to do with me."

"Are you absolutely positive that the curse can't be broken? You're sure there is no loophole?"

Emma glared over to the Genie, but the man faded away after giving her this look. This look that seemed to restore her faith in what she'd seen from her parents in her years in the White castle: That true love is the most powerful magic of all. She needed to read over that curse again…

**AN: Lots of stuff happened in this one. Can't wait to see what your thoughts and feels are!**


	10. Chapter 10

Emma felt as if she might lose her lunch. She left her room and went to the library once more. She didn't go to read—she did that all day the day before and still found no loophole, she didn't go to summon the Genie to watch Allison and Eva, she just couldn't listen to Regina and Graham's panting anymore.

What's worse is she couldn't bring herself to leave the castle because she liked the fact that she could feel. Even if it was pain she was feeling. It was a lot better than feeling nothing. So she laid on the couch, hugging a pillow. She could feel the beginnings of tears, but she refused to let them go.

Sooner or later, Emma could never be sure, the main doors to the library burst open. The Queen sauntered in, in a new dress. Emma would be lying if she said she didn't notice the bust line and how ample and delicious the woman's breasts appeared. She would also be lying if she said she didn't notice the daring in her eyes and redness of her lips, the pearliness of her teeth or the magic at her fingertips.

Emma stood and shoved her hands in her pockets, "Your Majesty?"

Regina knit her brows and walked over to her, "Oh my. You look awful, Dear. Are you feeling well?"

"I'm not sick, but if you're asking if I'm _feeling_ well… I'm not."

They eyed each other at Emma's accent on the word 'feeling', "So are you ill or aren't you?"

Emma turned away from her. "I'm fine." She walked a few paces and turned back.

Regina gave Emma an arrogant smirk.

Emma looked into her, "It's working." She said matter of factly.

Regina knit her brows once more and once more walked over to the princess, "What's working?"

"I think you know."

"I haven't a clue of what you're talking about."

"I think you do."

"I don't."

"Regina." Emma gave her deathly serious look, "It's working." She repeated.

Regina smirked, "Let me know when you're ready to clarify whatever this discussion is about."

"You know what it's about." Emma practically whined.

"I don't." Regina turned to her with awaiting eyes and after a full minute of nothing, she poofed out of the library.

"GRAHAM!" was heard echoing throughout the castle.

Emma looked down and away from where she'd been standing, "I feel… I feel jealousy."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Eva woke up in a bed she didn't recognize. This could not be happening again. Not after Proctor and his weird-ness when he first started at Miami. She promised herself never again would she get drunk enough that she couldn't remember…

She looked down thanking the Lord she was still clothed this time. She heard water running and smelled food wafting into the room.

Were there _two_ people in this place?

Carefully, she crept out of the bedroom. She saw no one in the kitchen, though she did see a couple plates of food and a note next to one. She peered into the living room.

That room was oddly familiar.

She walked into the room and sat down on the couch. Flashes of Allison came to her.

Was this Allison's place?

She stood up and looked at the mantle of pictures. She saw a few people she knew she'd never seen before. She saw Remy with the people she'd never seen, she saw a picture of Allison with Remy and the same people she'd never seen, and finally she saw a picture of Allison and Remy. She looked over the pictures in the second row and saw Allison in a few of them. She figured it was safe to say that she was in fact in Allison's apartment.

_"You shouldn't be with her."_

_"Why not?"_

_"Because she's not the kind of girl you settle down with. She's not the kind of girl you marry. She's the kind of girl that pulls you into her charming clutches and ruins your life. She's probably cheating on you."_

_"You don't know what you're talking about."_

_"You said that you were sort of dating her. She didn't want the commitment. Because she wanted to more easily talk her way out of her adultery."_

_"That's not what 'sort of' dating meant."_

_"You might want to get tested. I still won't be surprised if she has a disease or two."_

_"As a matter of fact, she does have a disease."_

_"And you still slept with her?!"_

_"She has Huntington's!"_

_"What?" _

"You not hungry?" Allison's voice ripped her from her memory flash.

Eva turned quickly to find blonde hair hidden in a towel and a robe that was just plain making fun of Eva for having a crush and hiding everything she wanted to see more of.

"After last night, I assumed you'd need something to soak up that alcohol… I made pancakes and eggs…" The blonde scratched her nose and looked over to the brunette. She saw confusion in Eva's eyes, "You don't remember what happened."

"It's coming back to me." Eva said cautiously as she walked over to the other doctor, "I'm so sorry."

"You haven't remembered the good parts." Allison smiled as she held a chair out for the brunette before moving to the Keurig. "Eat. It will come to you."

"All I remember is getting in an argument and calling you and your..person a whore."

"She's not my person—not in the sense that you're referring. And the both of us have had our slutty times in life, so don't worry."

Eva took a bite of pancakes.

_"I want you like no one else. I've been… so jealous and angry lately. I've turned into a different person. I slept around—I never sleep around. I flaunted a random guy I didn't care about… And it was all because I couldn't get those three words out: I want you."_

_"I want you too."_

Allison sat down next to the brunette, having gotten the other woman and herself some coffee. She had casually opened the paper, but was dying on the inside hoping Eva would remember the night before. She looked up and found honey brown eyes staring intensely back at her. She smiled soft, relieved, "You remembered the good part."

Eva nodded, eyes suddenly wet. She leaned into the blonde, and Allison found herself leaning right back.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma sat on the edge of a couch in the library she had pulled in front of the biggest mirror and just happened to be hugging a pillow tight as she watched them.

"Genie!" Regina yelled as she entered the library.

"Nooo!" Emma turned to Regina miffed.

Genie reappeared from the mirror Emma had been watching, "My Queen?"

"What were you just showing the princess? Was it our friends on Earth, yet again?"

"Yes it was our friends on Earth yet again!" Emma cried, "And you ruined it! Something was about to happen!"

"Nothing was about to happen."

"Then how come we were looking at each other with big goo-goo eyes?" Emma stood in Regina's business.

"They weren't looking at each other…"

"Yes. They were going to kiss." _They__ were going to kiss!_ It dawned on the blonde what the loophole was.

The certainty with which Emma spoke annoyed Regina, so she glared at the princess, "When are you leaving? The storm has been gone for days, I'm sure your parents are sick with worry and are sending search parties to look for you."

Emma paused, giving her a delighted glare, but as she took the other woman in, she decided to ask the queen what was really on her mind, "Why didn't you tell me about them?"

"You didn't need to know."

"I didn't need to know that part of me was living another life? Feeling things? Healing people? Falling in love?"

"It only would have made you jealous."

"But here's the catch. I can't feel, remember that part of your little curse?"

"I never forget." Regina spat.

It was now all so clear to Emma that Regina did feel and that remark was clearly about the non-curse-breaking kiss.

Regina turned from Emma and started walking away.

Emma saw the smoke start at the queen's feet and chased after her grabbing her shoulder, "Don't! You can't just…" She looked around realizing the scenery changed, "walk away from me." She said as she took in the fact that they were in the Queen's quarters.

"Then what can I do around you? You seem to have a long list of things I can't do. And you know I can't end you without ending part of myself. You know that that threat of your life after that pathetic excuse for a kiss was empty. You seem to think I know what's going on in that tiny little brain of yours, but I don't. So what?" Regina yelled as she pushed Emma across the room into a wall. "What do you want from me?!"

~0~0~0~0~0~

They were centimeters apart when Allison's phone buzzed on the counter and she tensed and darted away from the brunette.

Eva stood, "I should go."

"What? Why?"

"I've imposed enough for one 12 hour period…" She gave the blonde a small smile. She walked over and kissed her cheek, "Can I make you dinner tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"Yes, I'd like to make up for last night, try to start this… thing off right. I make mean enchiladas."

"I love Mexican food."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm Latina."

Allison looked as though she thought she'd accidentally said a racial slur as she knew Eva was not Mexican but Cuban.

Eva could only smile, "You're cute when you think you've said something offensive." She then covered her own mouth, "I am obviously still feeling that liquid courage, saying whatever pops into my head…" She shook her head and stared at the blonde, "Please come to dinner."

"I will." Allison nodded, "Is this gonna be our first date?" She smiled wide.

"It might just be our first date. At least, I was hoping that's what it would be."

Allison smirked, "I see what you're doing. Making me dinner in your house. You just want to get into my pants faster than anyone else ever has…"

Eva was the one that looked as though her foot was stuck in her mouth now.

"You're cute when you think you've planned something offensive." Allison smiled as she walked Eva to her door, "I'll see you later… What time?"

"Uhh.. 8?"

"I'll see you at 8." Allison kissed Eva's cheek and shut the door.

~0~

Eight o'clock could not have come faster—it couldn't have come slower either. Allison busied herself, but ultimately, she sat around waiting until she needed to get ready. She took her time and ended up getting to Eva's apartment late.

Time for Eva went much the same. She'd just put the enchiladas in the oven when her bell went off. She looked to the door and down to her pajamas, "Uh… Hold on just a second!"

She ran to her bedroom and quickly pulled on her black high-waisted short-shorts and a button up. She tucked it in as she went to the door, "I'm coming! I'm sorry!" She pulled open the door to find Allison wearing a snug nice looking v-neck, a vest and luckiest damn ass-hugging slacks in the world.

"Wow." It was the only word either woman had to offer the other.

"You look…." Allison trailed off, staring at Eva's legs.

"I could say the same about you…" Eva couldn't help that her eyes found rest at the V of the vest, which happened to line up perfectly with the V of the v-neck. She swallowed and looked up to find amused grey-green eyes staring back at her. "Uh!" She mentally punched herself in the face, "Come in! Please."

Allison stepped inside, a knowing smirk gracing her features. She took Eva's face and kissed her cheek, "Don't be embarrassed. I was staring at those legs of yours that run for days." She whispered before walking into the townhouse completely.

"Did you have any trouble getting here?"

"No, it was an easy find." Allison could tell that Eva was nervous, "It smells great." She tried to placate the woman's nerves.

"Yeah…" Eva looked around, "Oh, dinner! Yeah. I just put it in. It should be done in a bit."

Allison nodded, "What to do until then?" She fell all too gracefully to the couch, crossed her legs and looked to the brunette.

"…" There was nothing going through Eva's mind. She'd come up with so many topics, even made flashcards just in case, but she couldn't even remember where she put them. She had never been so utterly nervous in her entire life. And Allison was just staring at her. She knew she should say something, but she couldn't get anything out.

"You okay?"

"You pulled away from me this morning." Eva had absolutely no idea where that came from.

"I did." Allison nodded.

"And you're super casual and ever confident now."

The blonde merely shrugged.

"How can you go from shying me away to being like that? All… regal and carefree?"

"I think the nerves are hitting you a little later than they hit me, Eva." Allison uncrossed her legs and sat forward, elbows on her knees, "See, I've been weird and awkward since we met. I had Remy as a distraction—for everyone, not just myself—for my awkward, nervousness. I've already done the shy girl can't ask the other to dance—not that I want to dance because I don't dance—but I've already done all of that. This morning…"

Allison smiled as she looked at the ground, "This morning was a dream. So was last night. But this morning… my phone going off was a wake up call. I didn't tense because I was nervous; I tensed because I wanted to scream at my alarm. But there was no alarm. There was only my phone telling me I had a low battery. So, right now, I'm back in the dream. I'm confident again." Allison looked off.

"At least one of us is." Eva moved quickly to the kitchen.

Allison knit her brows and leaned back again as she strained to see what the brunette was doing. Just as she started to stand, Eva came back in.

"Wine?" The normally composed brunette, handed the blonde a glass with a shaking hand. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Allison took a sip, "I'm glad I can make you this nervous." She smiled as she set her glass down. She turned and watched Eva down hers and walk into the kitchen once more. She came back quicker than the last, bottle in hand, and poured herself another glass.

Allison watched on amused, but when Eva finished off the second glass and grabbed the bottle once more, she had to intervene.

"I think you've had enough… For now." She took the bottle from the brunette and set it on the ground.

"I'm no lightweight."

Allison chuckled out loud, "I don't doubt it. I smelled the whiskey on your breath last night…"

"Well… liquid courage and all that." Eva set her empty glass on the coffee table and turned, sitting forward on the couch. She sat up straight and crossed her ankles. "I had flashcards…" She looked down at her hands, inspecting them with such concentration she didn't feel the couch rise and a few seconds later dip closer to her once more. She jumped when she felt a warm, slack covered thigh against her own. She turned and saw still amused green eyes. "I'm glad you're enjoying my nerves."

"It's just so unlike you."

"I know. I hate it." She turned away from the blonde.

Allison leaned forward. She grabbed Eva's shoulders and pulled back. After she got the woman to lean back into the couch, she pulled her in so that the brunette's head rested against her shoulder. She traced the brunette's upper arm.

"There is no pressure for anything, Eva. I'm not expecting anything, I'm not going to ask for anything. You don't have to talk to me when you have nothing to say. You don't have to sit here like this with me, I was just hoping it would help you relax. You don't even have to feed me. I can leave now and we can do this some other time."

"That's ridiculous." Eva wrapped an arm around Allison's middle, "Why would I want to schedule another first date with the woman of my literal dreams? This would just happen all over again…" She crossed her legs and let leg that did the crossing fall over the blonde's thigh.

Allison couldn't help but bring her hand to rest on Eva's knee. She let her fingers trace different patterns there just as her other hand was doing on Eva's arm. "I guess that would be silly."

A few minutes went by before Eva snuggled into Allison's side even more, "This is nice though."

"It is nice. You're more relaxed, I can feel it."

"I am." She looked up to the blonde, "I might just be getting my confidence back. Careful Dr. Cameron. When I see someone I want, I don't stop until I get them. And it's all too easy when I'm confident."

Allison's brows rose in amusement, "I think there's a difference between confidence and arrogance."

Eva opened her mouth to respond.

The timer went off for the food.

"Dinner's ready."

They ate quietly, steeling glances at one another. They smiled and turned away bashfully when caught. And then came dessert. Eva put the apple enchilada on one plate. Their forks met a couple times and their bodies got closer together when they decided to start feeding one another.

The brunette had definitely found her confidence on the couch; and it had definitely been building exponentially since then.

Allison would be willing to go out on a limb and say that it was Eva's over zealous confidence that ruined the moment they were in.

"Dance with me." Eva had a twinkle in her eye as she whispered the words and stood. She put the empty dessert plate in her sink and moved to the living room, turning on some music.

"What?!" Allison was desperate.

"Dance with me." Eva's hypnotizing hips swayed to the music.

Allison decided that she had died, and this was her hell. "I don't dance."

"So you've always said. But you did tell me once that you dance in your underwear…"

"I'm not stripping down for you. It's weird. Especially for a first date."

Eva moved over to the blonde. "Please?"

"No. No stripping down, no dancing in my underwear. I don't dance unless I'm home alone."

"Dance with me and I'll strip down for you."

"Nothing Chris, Serena and I haven't seen before." Two could play at this game. If Eva wanted to prove she was the boss in this potential relationship, Allison was content in proving that she could be the boss when she wanted. She gave the brunette a victorious, sarcastic smile and waited for a rebuttal.

The rebuttal that came was not what Allison expected.

Eva un-tucked her shirt from her short-shorts, making sure she had the blonde's attention then she casually—evilly unbuttoned it to the beat of the music and took it off. She slowly unbuttoned her shorts and let the swaying of her hips do the rest of the work. Once they landed on the floor, she swayed back over to Allison and wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck. She leaned up to the blonde's ear and whispered, "Dance with me, Allison Cameron."

"Yes ma'am." Allison could admit defeat; but what a way to be defeated. She let Eva take her to the middle of the living room where they swayed to the soft music.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma pushed Regina back a step and pushed herself from the wall, "What do I want from you?! I want you to open those beautiful brown eyes of yours and see what's right in front of you!"

"And what is that?!" Regina cried out, turning angrily from the blonde, running her fingers through her hair, walking in a calming circle before facing the princess once more.

"ME! I am!" Emma took a deep breath to calm herself, "I feel for you. I've only ever felt for you. Even when I didn't know you were alive, even when I was seven, playing 'Evil Queen,' I felt for only you." She paused and closed the space between them. She took Regina's face in her hand, "Don't you see that? Don't you see my feelings for you?"

"You can't feel." Regina turned from her.

"I feel as much as you feel." Emma whispered. "Ever since I came here, I've felt things. Hope, jealousy, love, contentment, compassion, anger, sadness, guilt—_everything_ aside from indifference!"

Regina pushed from her, "And what is supposed to happen from here? You admit that you love me and what? You tell your parents that I'm still alive and young and you _love_ me? I come out of my castle grounds after 20 years for them just to kill me again, this time succeeding?"

"No." Emma shook her head. "I go home. I tell my parents I met someone. I tell my parents all about her, how perfect she is. I tell them that I need to be with her and they let me go."

"Oh Emma." Regina turned from her, gathered herself and turned back, "For being indifferent and smarter than the average human and not letting emotions cloud judgments, you sure have your head in the clouds."

"What does that mean?"

"It's not that simple. You can't just tell them you love someone and them let you go…"

"It is."

"They'll need more than your word that you're in love. They'll need proof. And if they find out it's me you're choosing, they'll think you under another curse… You can't feel, remember?"

"Do you love me?"

"It doesn't matter—"

"_DO_ you love me?" Emma didn't let Regina talk. She took her hands and stared into that chocolate brown she felt so deeply for.

"Let my hands go."

Emma squeezed tighter, trying to convince Regina to just let her heart feel fully and completely, "Regina please!" She stared desperately into the brunette's brown eyes, "True love is the most powerful magic of all."

"Love…" Regina pulled her hands free and pushed the blonde back, keeping her at arm's length, "is weakness, Emma. It's always been my vice. My downfall. And it, in the end will be my demise. That, I can assure you."

Emma stared at the brunette woman, "It'll be your demise?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Eva had managed to get Allison down to her skivvies and she'd managed to corner her on the couch, sitting astride her lap. She moved in to kiss the blonde. She knew that the blonde wanted it as much as she did. It was completely obvious. But when her lips met a cheek, she pulled back confused. "Allison?"

Allison looked down at her hands as they gripped almost bare hips. She felt more than saw Eva's hips move in her lap. "How did you manage to get me down to my bra and panties?" She asked innocently, pathetically.

"I have my ways… I told you. I get what I want when I'm confident." She tried to lean in again, but this time, her lips met chin. "Allison."

"I'm sorry." Allison managed to shimmy from underneath Eva and started for her shirt.

"I want you." The brunette managed to get out as she watched the blonde put on her v-neck and reach for her pants. She noticed that her words made the blonde stop. "I want you like I've always wanted to want someone. Like I've wanted no one else. You frustrate me; you challenge me; you intimidate me. And I'm completely in love with you."

Allison dropped her pants and turned to the brunette, tears lining her eyes, "I love you too."

Eva crawled over to the other woman and kissed her neck, "Then why won't you let me kiss you? What are you so scared of?"

Allison's chin quivered as she inhaled to tell her what she was scared of. "The woman I've been dreaming of all my life realizing I'm not good enough for her and breaking my heart. I've loved and lost and moved on, but that… That I won't come back from."

Eva held Allison's face and kissed her temple. "That won't happen." She whispered.

"How do you know?"

"Because I've been dreaming about you too. And, I mean, Al, if anyone isn't good enough, it's me. Acting the way I did. I've never _not_ deserved anyone more in my life." She kissed the blonde's cheek again, "But I can be deserving of you if you give me a chance. And I know you're deserving of me."

"How do you know that I deserve you?" Allison pulled a bit from Eva and looked at her.

"Because you're you."

"Well you're you…"

"I am." Eva smiled.

Allison couldn't help the smile that grew on her face as she saw Eva's eyes light up. She was the one that leaned in this time. Their lips met. It was a kiss that could break evil queens' curses… if curses were real that is.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma and Regina stared at each other. And it was as they stared that they felt it. A shockwave rippled through them both.

Emma let a tear fall from her eye, thanking the heavens that Allison and Eva finally kissed; that's all that that shockwave could have been: True love's kiss breaking their part of the curse.

Emma and Regina closed the distance, their lips smashing together. They didn't break until their lungs cried for oxygen. They stayed centimeters apart, breathing in the other's eager pants.

Emma finally gulped enough air to speak, "It'll be your demise?" She asked again.

"Yes." Regina whispered.

Emma's chin quivered as she took in what Regina was saying. "You love me too."

"Yes."

The both of them stared intently as they felt every emotion they'd missed out on flood their systems as their lips met once more in a life-altering kiss.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Alexandra walked through the woods to a clearing. They were higher up than she'd imagined and she could see more land than she was expecting. She looked out at all the trees, innocently hoping that she would be able to see the Evil Queen's castle.

"It's actually the other direction…" Red came from the woods and pointed, "West." She clarified "Wicked witches always tend to go to the western most part of their lands and stop… But her castle was destroyed when she was. You wouldn't be able to see it."

"Who said I was looking for a castle?"

Red gave the girl a smile, "You still love her, don't you?"

"I haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about."

"Come on, Love. You can tell Red and I. We've a pretty good idea of what we speak." Hook was the third to come from the clearing. "Loving someone that doesn't love you back… It hurts. In some cases you win their love, in some cases you move on, in some cases they die and you've no other choice but to move on." He wrapped his good arm around the brunette.

"And what, you're telling me that she's going to come to her senses, all of the sudden start feeling again and love me back?"

Both brunettes could feel the sarcasm oozing from the blonde princess's lips.

"No, ours is one of love lost. Both of us lost our loves to Rumplestilskin. Through our mutual lust for revenge, we found each other. And though our souls were mangled, we managed to fix each other." Hook started.

Red took her turn and spoke softly. "She can't feel emotion. You can't blame her for that. You can't blame her for letting you and all the others try to fix her. She doesn't know what hurt feels like. She doesn't know pain of the heart. She is curious enough and… sexual enough to let you and every other girl try as they might because she might think that there is a possibility that her curse might just break if someone loves her enough. But you can't blame her for something you knew from the beginning."

"I can too!"

Hook chuckled at the young girl, "No. You can't and you know it. The White Princess might think that she can read emotion and might think she's smarter than everyone else because of it—and she might very well be—but that doesn't take her childishness away. Her parents have taught her of true love and true love's kiss. She's childish enough to believe that it will work on her, on this particular curse, but it won't. And you, Princess, I am sure have eavesdropped on enough of your parents' and her parents' and even random others' conversations to know that true love's kiss can't break her curse as she can't feel anything." He sighed, "Let it go. Let her go and you might just find someone worth your love."

"You have someone in mind?"

"We might." Red smirked to the woman scorned by the very princess she was helping to find. "Oh… if we're not back by the time you get back to camp, don't be alarmed or alert anyone to our absence." She smiled a wolfish grin.

Alexandra watched Red Riding Hood opt for Hook's hook and lead him into the woods, away from the campsite. She turned back to the clearing. She looked west. Something caught her eye. It looked like the peaks of a castle. But… That couldn't be. The thing came down at the witch's demise.

Didn't it?

**AN: We're getting down to it. I hope you're enjoying! Let me know your thoughts and feels!**

**P.S. The next chapter will change the rating of this story.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: This chapter contains smut… as much smut as I feel I'm able to write. I'm sure that for some of you, it's nothing at all. And it is rather mild, but it's what I feel I can pull off in that department. And even still, I'm highly embarrassed already and I'm sure I've made a fool of myself. Nevertheless, it stayed in the story and the rating has changed to M. Hope you enjoy!**

"Dear gods. This can't be." Snow breathed out as the bunch came to the clearing to find Regina's castle completely restored. It looked the same as it did 20 years before, before it was destroyed with the Evil Queen's demise. She slid from her horse and walked closer, taking in everything. "There's just no way…"

"Love, this is Regina we're dealing with. There's always a way where that woman's concerned." Hook spoke up as he, Red, Baelfire, Alexandra and a few of the dwarfs moved to the wrought iron fence and put their faces between the bars.

"I don't want to agree with the man just because he gives the best—" Red turned to see all the eyes looking back at her expectantly, and it was in that moment, she remembered that she was in the presence of royalty—be them her best friends or not, it felt weird being as completely candid as she would if she were in a tavern and told them about her and her lover's sex life. She pursed her lips, "Hook has a point, that's all I'm trying to say."

Snow gave her friend a scolding look nevertheless before she walked to the gate. She looked down and saw the anatomical heart lock on the forest floor unlocked and useless. She picked it up and examined it. She soon felt her husband behind her. She showed the lock to him, "It's been tampered with recently. Look at the markings. They're not worn."

"Well. It looks like we've come to the right place."

"How many times over am I going to have to vanquish this woman?"

"As many as it takes, my love." Charming dropped a kiss to his wife's cheek before he turned to everyone else, "We'll need a few people to stay outside just in case she tries anything. The rest of us… Well, looks like we get to storm a castle. Everyone brought weaponry, right?" He turned around when he heard the rickety sound of an old gate being opened. His no doubt fuming wife was already marching up to the castle door. "I guess there's no time for a plan or an uplifting speech."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma and Regina fervently ripped at each other's clothes until there was nothing left to rip. Currently, Regina's legs were wrapped around Emma's hips, Emma's knees were spread around Regina's ass and sides and the blonde was bent over the brunette sucking on her pulse point. Hands were clawing and grabbing. Every move was filled with all-consuming passion.

Regina couldn't quite place when she let Emma take control, but after she was carried to her bed and laid down gently, delicately, as if one wrong move would break her, she pulled the blonde's mouth from her neck and stared into her eyes, "I'm not glass."

Emma seemed to read her mind. Her only response was an annoying yet intoxicating grin and a kiss to her lips before she whispered into the brunette's ear, "Doesn't mean you're unbreakable."

Regina felt Emma's strong hands and sinewy arms move underneath her up her back to wrap around her shoulders. Before she knew it, Emma had sat them both up. Regina held tightly to the princess's neck, her fingers getting tangled in a blonde mane as she looked to the blonde questioningly.

One of Emma's hands curled into dark brown locks, the other encircled tighter around the brunette's waist. She let her mouth find Regina's ear once more and whispered, "Doesn't mean you're not delicate either." She pulled back and kissed the Queen's lips. "It does mean that I'm going to love you like you've never been loved before. That okay with you, your Majesty?"

Regina felt herself smirk at the question; that smirk grew to a smile, "I'll allow it, Princess."

Emma, in turn, gave the Queen a cheeky smile, "Good." She leaned forward, letting them fall horizontal on the bed once more. She started kissing her way down Regina's throat to explore regions south of the woman's clavicles.

Regina had never felt so consumed by anything before. She never felt the 15 some-odd people breeching her private lands. She only felt Emma.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Allison didn't remember how she lost her shirt a second time. She only knew that somehow, someway Eva had her completely naked, in bed, and was currently astride her hips, trailing teasing kisses down her sternum.

Eva pushed herself further down the blonde's legs and moved her kisses to Allison's midriff. She felt a quick intake of breath and looked up to see green eyes and the backs of a couple fingers being bit in a measly attempt to hide a grin. Eva couldn't help but smile, she hovered as she moved back up to the blonde's lips and gave her a kiss.

"Are you ticklish?"

"A little. A little more when I'm not as turned on as I am." Allison admitted softly.

Eva raised a brow, silently letting the other woman know just how intriguing that statement was, "I'll keep that in mind." She kissed her again and moved back down to Allison's stomach.

She kissed and nipped every which way she could and finally, she dared to lick up the side of the blonde's ribcage. She wasn't sure what she expected from her mischievous act, but she certainly wasn't expecting a low, fiery moan. Eva looked back up to the blonde's face. She was met with a tossed back head, closed eyes and an open mouth. She'd never seen anything so damn beautiful.

~0~0~0~0~0~

It seemed that Regina had let off most of her guards, but there, for some ungodly reason, remained some loyal men that took to fighting off Snow, Charming and the crew for as long as possible.

Snow narrowly escaped a clay grenade and moved into the meeting place of five of the hallways. She remembered Regina's hallway well. She started moving towards the entrance of that particular hallway, but something caught her attention. A figure down the hall.

She instantly drew an arrow and aimed, though as she looked down the hall, she saw the figure, the man standing in much the same position. And she recognized the hesitation in his eyes.

"Huntsman." She spoke softly, tears filling her eyes.

They continued to stare at one another, neither shooting, neither lowering their weapon.

"I won't shoot if you don't." Snow brought herself to say.

From his spot in the middle of the long hallway he gave her a soft look yet spoke in a determined tone, "I can't let you come down this hallway. I'll not let you come down my Queen's hallway with that look of vengeance in your eyes."

"I'll spare Regina. I'll not kill her. I'll not even attempt to vanquish her. I obviously can't. I don't know how many times I've tried, yet she's still here." Snow refused to lower her weapon first, and she daringly took a step forward, "All I want is my daughter. For her, I will stop at nothing. I will burn this place down again, I'll burn it three times over. Tell me where she is, Graham, and I'll let your _Queen_ go free."

Graham knew he could trust the White Queen. She'd never lied to him before. And he was all too eager to get rid of the White Princess. "She's in her room." He lowered his arrow.

A loud thud followed by a couple stomps alerted both parties to a new presence. Both had their arrows pointed to the approaching being and when Charming came from the same hallway Snow had come, coughing, his cape still slightly aflame, both stared on. They watched him rip it off and stomp the fire out, and they watched him draw his sword and look around, a protective, angry determination in his eyes.

When he took in the Huntsman, he was done playing around, "Where's my daughter?!" He started for the other man.

"In her room." Graham once more put his arrow in his quiver and this time was able to put his bow over his shoulder. He walked forward to the second door and opened it. "Please. Take her back."

Snow and Charming rushed passed him into the room.

The Huntsman gave a satisfied grin, proud that he didn't have to lift a finger to get this person to leave. Her entire stay, he'd had this feeling that the blonde beauty was infringing upon his territory. For all her talk of not feeling, she sure looked at _his_ queen with the same passion he did. He didn't appreciate that.

Before he could comprehend what was happening, Charming was back out of the bedroom throwing the Huntsman against the door, "WHERE IS SHE!?"

Snow was having none of it. She didn't even bother listening for an explanation or a possible other location, she went straight for Regina's door and threw it open.

"NO!" Graham yelled, struggling against Charming, trying to break free to save his queen.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Oh my God." Eva looked up at the ceiling as Allison made her way back up her body and rolled off to the side.

"Please. Call me Allison." Allison smirked as she looked over to the brunette.

"I just thought I was going to top you and then you just… turned it around on me… And it was so. damn. good."

Allison had already settled back into the bed, "I know. I don't know what came over me… I could definitely use a cigarette though."

"You smoke?"

"Never in my life, but after that, I say why not give in to the stereotypic post-phenomenal-sex cigarette?"

Eva smirked as she gathered her strength and sexily rolled over the blonde to get off the bed, "I say instead we replenish our bodies with electrolytes by way of grape Gatorade—and maybe some actual food—instead of giving into the stereotypic post-phenomenal-sex cigarette and potentially start our road to cancer. Because if we do my thing, we live longer and have more phenomenal sex…."

"I like it when you get logical and speak doctor to me in bed." Allison smirked as she sat up.

"No, no!" Eva stopped her after putting on her short silk robe, "I'll bring the goodies to you."

Allison smiled, "Alright. I'll be here."

Allison waited all of three seconds after Eva left the room before she got up, wrapped herself in a sheet toga, and followed the brunette to the kitchen. She wrapped her arms around Eva's waist and kissed the back of the brunette's neck.

"You're not in bed." Eva had a smile growing on her face as she turned around.

"I got lonely." Allison leaned in and kissed the brunette soundly.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma wasn't sure when they had turned to face the foot of the bed; she knew that it had to have been during one of the many times Regina tried to regain control—Emma always let her but soon the utter need to touch and explore the brunette before her became all-powerful and she would flip them back so she was on top.

And that is exactly how they were now: Emma was kissing down Regina's sternum, her hands roving over the brunette's sides, ass and legs. And it was this moment that she heard something. She wasn't sure what the sound was that made her look around the room to see if someone was there, but something pulled her attention away.

Though her concern was for naught as Regina's hand moved to her cheek and turned her attention back to the Queen.

"Emma?" Regina breathed out.

Emma stared into soft, sincere, Eva-like chocolate brown eyes. This woman was no Evil Queen. This woman was a sex fiend. She was sarcastic, sometimes spiteful, and her tongue was silver. She'd been vengeful in the past, but this woman was no Evil Queen. She was Emma's queen however, and Emma wanted—nay, needed to treat her as such. She crawled the short distance from Regina's sternum to her ear and whispered, "I love you." She pulled back slightly to stare into Regina's eyes again.

Regina took Emma's face in both hands and pulled her in for a searing kiss, "And I you." She barely got the words out.

Emma knew that it was all she could do to half-admit that she loved her. She knew that she wouldn't hear the word 'love' fall from her lips for a long while, but she would get similar sentiments. She understood that this woman, that her woman's heart was still utterly fouled. That's why she herself had been cursed after all; but she also knew that they were meant to be together and she was meant to put Regina's heart back together. And that… That she wasn't going to run away from.

They kissed again, Emma let her body fall against Regina's as the kiss deepened. Every part of them kissed and when Emma's core ground into Regina's, Regina pulled from the blonde's lips as a heated sigh escaped her throat. "Show me." She whispered.

"Show you what?" Emma asked, her fingers now tracing Regina's jaw line, slowly moving to her throat and chest.

"Show me how much you love me."

Emma nipped at Regina's throat, "Make love to you?"

"Yes."

"How would you like me to begin?" Emma sighed as she whispered in Regina's ear, "Mouth? Fingers?" She ground her hips into Regina's again, "Or shall we stay as we are?"

"Fingers." Regina grabbed a fistful of blonde tresses as Emma started kissing down her torso, "Stay up here with me."

They stared intently into each other's eyes as Emma held herself up to hover over Regina with one hand and let her other hand make light feather traces down Regina's side to her center.

Emma knew how wet Regina was, she could feel it when their cores were meshed, but it was an entirely different experience to feel it first hand—literally. She gathered enough wetness between Regina's folds to easily slide two fingers into the brunette.

And it was as Emma entered Regina that all bets of staying coherent were off. Regina immediately started rolling her hips, sighing with pleasure.

Emma watched unmoving for a moment, completely mesmerized by the woman below her, but sooner rather than later, something inside her snapped and she needed to take what the brunette was offering her. She moved her fingers, meeting Regina thrust for thrust. And soon that wasn't enough. The blonde angled her hips just behind her hand and used that for leverage in her thrusts.

Regina enjoyed this move. To say the least, it was the best decision Emma could have made. Regina's head fell back off the foot of the bed, her crimson smile the only motivation Emma needed to continue.

Regina's legs tightened around Emma's waist and both women knew it wouldn't be long now. Regina could tell that Emma's supporting arm was straining and managed to wrap a gentle, encouraging hand up Emma's sinewy bicep. Her other hand moved around Emma's neck and tangled in the mess of blonde.

The hand on Emma's locked arm gave a gentle squeeze letting Emma know that Regina not only could take the added weight but wanted it. So Emma fell to her elbow and felt Regina's hand now slowly rove down her back. Those perfect fingers feeling so good, drawing a shiver to run through Emma, causing her to curl her own fingers inside her lover. That was the right move because the next thing Emma knew Regina's fingernails were dragging up her back and Regina's body was writhing uncontrollably.

Emma kept a steady rhythm as she watched Regina come back down from the heavens in awe. She'd never seen anything so utterly captivating in her life.

They were so wrapped up in each other that neither heard the door open.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Eva walked into the locker room for their next shift. It was morning and she could feel herself lagging. It didn't help that she was sore and limping slightly.

Chris, who was already in there getting ready, observed Eva silently. Eva gave the man a look that told him she wasn't going to talk about it and dropped her bag on the bench.

Chris raised his hands in surrender, moved to his bag and grabbed his deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, "I uh… Didn't have time this morning. Alarm clock went off late." He moved to the bathroom.

Eva had just finished changing into her scrubs when Allison and Serena walked in.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay? You're downing that coffee like it's oxygen. And you have two cups…"

Allison rolled her eyes, "I'm fine. Besides this one's not for me." She held up the cup she hadn't been drinking from then looked over to Eva.

Eva was already staring back at her and they locked eyes.

Serena knit her brows about to ask who the lucky winner of the free coffee was when she saw the other person in the room. "Oh!" She smirked and moved to her locker.

Chris came out of the bathroom and knit his brows as he saw the two unmoving women and the third off to the side with a smirk on her face. He looked between the other two again and watched Allison move forward and give Eva a cup of coffee. "Oh." He had a big, goofy smile on his face as he moved past them to put his stuff back in his locker.

As Chris made his move to his locker, Allison became a little self-conscious and gave Eva her coffee as well then went to her locker to change.

Allison finished changing and turned to find Eva folding her street clothes and putting them in her bag for her. She smiled a goofy smile of her own as she leaned down took her bag from the bench that Eva seemed to make herself at home at. She kissed the brunette's cheek, garnering a couple catcalls from the other two occupants in the room before stuffing her bag in her locker.

Eva grabbed their coffee cups again and stood as Allison turned back around. She handed Allison back her coffee just as Tuck came in.

"Look alive. We have incoming five minutes out." Tuck looked around the room and saw just how close Allison and Eva were standing and just how observant Serena and Chris were of this fact. He smiled at the two women, "Oh. I see that. Congrats." And with that, he walked back into the main part of the trauma center.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"No." It was the only word Snow could produce as she saw her daughter naked, sweaty, and fucking the Evil Queen. Her brain wasn't allowing her to completely process what she'd walked in on. So that one word was all she gave by way of greeting or anything else.

Emma and Regina broke their stare and looked up to the intruder.

"MOTHER!" Emma cried.

"Snow." Regina greeted seemingly unfazed.

Charming and Graham ran into the room, "Darling is everything alright?" Charming looked at his wife before looking over to the bed. He had no words.

"Daddy!" Emma dropped completely against Regina and tried to find a sheet or the covers but was unlucky in her search as everything had fallen off the bed.

Graham stared at the two of them. This wasn't right. Regina was his—or, he was Regina's, not the White Princess. He started for the bed to rip the White Princess of his queen and do something he'd surely regret.

Charming had an angry look in his eye and took all of one step towards them, following Graham, to rip his daughter from Regina's evil clutches before the two of them vanished from the bed.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Eva, Allison, Chris and Serena walked out to the ambulance bay. They found Proctor helping with the first patient of the day. He turned and looked at them, "Oh good. Serena. You're with me. Chris there's another incoming down here. Allison? Eva? Head up to the helipad."

Chris and Serena eyed the other women as they _professionally_ nodded and walked back inside. Then they stole a glance to each other, letting the other know that they both saw the glint in Allison and Eva's eyes as they learned they got to work together.

As soon as the elevator closed for their ascent to the helipad, Eva felt the backs of fingers against the backs of hers. She smiled as she looked down and saw Allison's fingers not so subtly brushing against hers. She scooted a little more towards the blonde and let the backs of their fingers intertwine with each other.

"This is going to be a long, agonizing day." Allison finally spoke, "Being around you and not getting to touch you."

"It'll go faster than you think, Baby. We'll get caught up in the case. Forget we even love each other."

Allison turned to the brunette, "Well… I don't think I'd like to forget that…"

Eva gave the woman a cheeky smile, "You know what I mean. We won't forget, but we'll be professional enough to put it aside until our patient is okay." She leaned in and kissed Allison's cheek. "Plus, this way, we'll get off at the same time."

"Not in the way I think we'd both like…"

Eva laughed, "You're terrible."

"You love me."

Eva nodded, "I do."

"And I love you too." Allison moved so they were actually holding hands—just for a split second before the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. She squeezed Eva's hand before letting it go, "After you." She smiled to the other woman as they exited.

**AN: Hope you liked it. Tell me your thoughts and feels!**

**2 chapters left!**


	12. Chapter 12

Emma looked around after they'd materialized again. They wound up in the stables, and they were fully clothed. And that's all she had time to figure out before she was being pushed off of Regina. She scrambled backwards, understanding that Regina needed to take a moment to herself.

She sat against a wall and picked up a piece of straw, playing with it as she cautiously took in the brunette, "Regina?"

"No." Regina glared at the White Princess. She continued pacing, continued thinking. How was she going to get out of this?

Emma stood after another minute of silence and stood in front of her, "We can get out of here now. I mean, Zambrano's in here somewhere, he'll take us wherever we want to go."

"You're proposing we run." Regina rolled her eyes. She turned from the blonde, but turned back angry, "I don't run from a fight! I'm the Evil Queen! I antagonize and fight and ruin everyone's lives! I don't run!"

"You're not evil." Emma said simply, "We _can_ run, Regina. Just for now. Just until I can get my parents alone and tell them to call everyone else off."

"No." Regina's tone was low, threatening. What she was threatening, she was unsure. She turned away from Emma again.

"Regina!" Emma grabbed the brunette's arm to turn her back around. With that move she received a slap to the face.

"This is _your_ fault!" Regina grit through her teeth.

"My fault?"

"Yes! If you hadn't have come here, I would still be dead to them and everything would be fine."

"I think it's safe to say that you weren't fine before I came here—Damn it!" Emma grit her teeth as Regina slapped her cheek again, "Stop hitting me."

Regina's anger bubbled over with sadness, "You're right. I wasn't fine before you. But at least my life wasn't in danger. At least I was living."

Emma shook her head, "You weren't living! You may as well have been dead. You've done nothing for the last 20 years but watch our other selves grow up! That's not living!" She received yet another slap. And this time she returned the favor.

Regina pulled back, a little shocked that the Princess hit her. She started walking away, "I knew you'd be my demise. I just hoped it wasn't going to be so soon." She turned around at her last words and stared at the blonde, "Silly me. Someone as ruthless and evil as me… I should have known better. I mean… look at my track record. I fell in love with Daniel; my mother ripped out his heart. I tried to forgive, tried to move on, but vengeance took hold of me and I became the Evil Queen. The Genie tried to save me, I trapped him in a mirror. The Huntsman…" She shook her head, "I took his heart. And then you came into my life, breaking my protection, making me feel again—!"

Emma walked the distance Regina had put between them as she ranted and with her last sentence, she took the brunette's face in her hands and kissed her. "I love you." She whispered. The look in her eyes was not only reassuring, but motivating. "We can get through this." She started to make light as she pulled away, "So my parents are a little overzealous with their trying to find their little princess. So, they've found out that you're still alive. And so they've found us making love… So what? We can all sit down and have a grown up conversation about it, don't you think?" She took Regina's face in her hands once more, rubbing the brunette's cheeks with her thumbs, "I won't let anything happen to you."

"You don't have magic, just how do you plan to protect me?"

Emma smirked, "Give me my weapons back and you won't be asking that question." She pulled back and gave the brunette a cheeky grin.

"Oh?"

"I'll have you know that I am the best swordsman, best fighter in these lands."

Regina rolled her eyes, "That's rather unnerving… The best these lands have to offer is you?" She waved her hand, giving Emma her sword, dagger and knife back.

Emma gave the brunette an unimpressed look, "Fine. Die. See if I care."

Regina tilted her head and looked at the Princess, "You would care."

Emma suddenly turned the surprisingly light banter serious once more, "All too much." She offered the brunette her arm, "Let's try to calm everyone down."

~0~0~0~0~0~

They had played Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would get to stay in their building and do an evaluation of their patient after he was brought to a room and who would go get a late, probably not-so-appetizing dinner from the main hospital.

Allison was the unlucky winner and had to do all the walking.

Normally, this would be a non-issue, but this day, after their patient died on them a grand total of 6 times and had a few more complications on top of that, the two women were exhausted and walking seemed like an impossible feat.

Allison came back with Smuckers Uncrustable sandwiches, apple slices, two different flavors of Sun Chips, a chocolate milk, a regular milk, a Minute Maid Fruit Punch, and a bottle of water.

By this time, Eva had made it back to the locker room, dragged her duffle bag to the adjacent side of the room where Allison's locker was, and sat straddling the bench. She was actually ending up lying on the bench as she found herself leaning all the way over, she dropped her hands letting them skim the floor.

"I'm back." Allison said softly.

It took all of Eva's strength to sit up and look at Allison, "What did you get?"

Allison walked over, looking in her bag, "PB&Js, apple slices, milk, juice, water, Sun Chips. It's all they had. The kitchen was closed."

"For good reason." Eva checked her watch for the time before she reached out for the bag, "Two kinds of milk? Fancy."

"I didn't know what you liked…"

"You want the chocolate, don't you?" Eva had a knowing grin.

Allison smiled back, "I'll have whatever you don't want."

Eva took the chocolate milk, a sandwich, a package of apple slices and a package of Sun Chips that she already knew Allison liked and set them behind her. Then she took the white milk, the other sandwich and package of apple slices, and the other flavor of Sun Chips—the ones she actually liked more herself, and set them a few feet in front of her.

She then reached a hand out for her, "Come here. Face me."

Allison eyed her as she sat close to Eva, narrowly avoiding sitting on the food, "What are we doing?"

"Well…" Eva pulled Allison closer and brought one of the blonde's legs over hers then put one of her own over the blonde's, "I don't know about you, but I can barely stay awake, let alone sit up to eat. I figure, if we lean against each other, we have a better shot of eating…"

Allison leaned into the brunette and kissed her, "I think I like this idea. This means I get the chocolate milk." She reached past the brunette to the milk bottle and opened it.

The brunette took a moment to chuckle before opening her own milk bottle, "Yes it does."

They had a total of two minutes of peace in the locker room before Chris emerged from the showers looking a little too invigorated, "Now isn't that cute?" He asked as he moved to his locker. He looked back at them and frowned, "Oh no, you're eating. Serena and I were going to get you nachos at the bar as your prize for being awesome with that patient of yours today."

Allison and Eva were looking at him with sleepy, exhausted eyes. Eva repositioned her head against Allison's shoulder, cuddling her instead of using her for support, "I think we need to take a rain check for nachos…" She felt Allison nod by way of agreement, "I'm sorry, Chris, we're just exhausted. We're gonna camp out in an on call room until one of us can drive…"

"No!" Serena came from the showers, looking just as invigorated as Chris. She'd heard the conversation to that point.

"Yeah! We're asleep on our feet… our asses." Allison said as she took in the fact that she was sitting.

"No… Not 'No' for nachos rain check or going to sleep. 'No' to the on call room. Let's be honest: They smell of sex and aren't really used for sleeping. And the beds aren't comfortable. I can drive you to whoever's—I assume you want to spend the night together—in one of your cars and Chris will follow then take me to the bar. No big deal. Right, Chris?"

"Yeah! Of course! This girl makes an excellent point."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma and Regina started making their way from the stables to the castle, but were stopped.

"Let me guess…" Alexandra called as she came down the field from the side of the castle, "She's surrendering. She's in pain. She has nothing left to fight for; nothing worth protecting…"

"I'd hardly say I've nothing to fight for." Regina didn't flinch when her blonde princess pulled her sword from its sheath. "And I'm no longer in pain." She walked forward a few paces and gave the princess she didn't know a wicked smirk.

Alexandra looked passed Regina to Emma, "Everyone deserves to be happy. She deserves to be happy. The least you could do is to try to make her happy after all the pain our families and allies have brought her, right?" Her eyes shined bright with tears.

"Alexandra…" Emma tried, "It's so much more than that…"

"Of course it is." Alexandra rolled her eyes, "I knew, if this happened, that it would be. And I knew deep, deep down that it would happen. I mean you felt nothing. You were stone. No curse lasts like that unless the cursor is still alive. I just hoped and prayed that it—" Her voice cracked, "That you'd never find her. That you'd stay as you were because…." She swallowed, "Because I'd be able to stomach the fact that it wasn't just a fantasy I'd built in my head and had crushed. I'd be able to tell myself that it was just because you had a heart of stone and for that there was no cure."

Regina studied the other girl, "You broke her heart." She turned to Emma. "She was the first, wasn't she? The first of them all."

Emma looked down ashamed. "Alexandra, I am so, so sorry. I know it probably means nothing now, but… I know how it feels now. I… I can feel now."

Alexandra let a tear fall, "I know. I can see it. I knew it the moment I saw you with her. She's the only time you ever felt."

"There's a reason for that."

"She cursed you!" Alexandra let out exasperated.

"No…" Emma swallowed hard, "She's my true love."

Alexandra pointed with her sword, "She is _evil_."

"She's innocent." Emma grit her teeth in anger.

"She's manipulated you!"

"She's the only one that's never tried."

Alexandra reared back in question. She never tried to manipulate Emma. She only loved her.

"Alex…" Emma took a few hesitant steps to the other blonde princess, "Whether you realize it or not you are just as responsible for your heartache as me. You tried to get me to feel; you said all it took was a kiss. You wanted me and I did feel connected to you because you'd been my only companion. I knew that if there was anyone that could break the curse it would have been you… But when it didn't break, you became the jaded one, the one that gets to place blame. I would have been perfectly content not trying to love… But you wanted me to love you. You tried to get me to love you. And I let you." Emma took a breath, "That's my fault and I accept responsibility for not walking away from you, but you need to accept responsibility that you wanted me and manipulated me into almost believing that your love would save me."

Alexandra let the tears fall free, "I've never not loved you, Emma. Even when we were little. You were my hero. And you…" She turned from her, away from them both.

"I know." Emma came behind her, "You weren't wrong, you know?"

Alexandra turned back to Emma, "How was I not wrong?"

"Love… Love did save me."

Alexandra looked into the eyes of the Evil Queen. She locked onto chocolate orbs; she would be able to tell if this woman lied, "Do you love her?"

"Yes."

All Alexandra could see was truth, a tortured existence that Emma always played up when they were little, but the truth. She nodded once before wiping her eyes and clearing her throat, "Your parents won't be pleased." She deadpanned as she looked to Emma.

~0~0~0~0~0~

They wound up at Eva's house. It was just that much closer to the hospital (not to mention the bar) than Allison's. Allison had opted to ride with Chris so he wouldn't be lonely and Eva rode in her Jeep with Serena.

They dropped their duffles as soon as they walked into the house, waved goodbye to Chris and Serena, and Eva locked the door. As soon as she turned around, she spoke, "They are so sleeping together."

"Right?" Allison asked knowingly. She was the first to move to Eva's bedroom, "I need to take a shower so bad after today. I might have to sit down inside…"

"I'll join you and we can keep each other upright like with dinner." Eva placed her hands on Allison's hips, guiding her to the bathroom in the dark. She changed the subject as she started the water, "I can't believe that he's okay. We did it. That was the toughest case I've ever had that my patient lived through…"

"I know. If I had any extra energy to spare I would have had you in a shower stall at work, I would have been on my knees and you would have been screaming my name. But I don't so we'll have sex tomorrow sometime. Maybe."

Eva had been chuckling softly at her girlfriend's words not at all surprised that the woman turned out to be a sex fiend. But it was the last word that caught her off guard, "Maybe?"

"I might still be tired." Allison shrugged innocently.

Eva gave her a look as she ushered Allison into the shower, "You'll still have sex with me."

"Oh great. I hear your confidence, Eva Zambrano. You'll get what you want. Just let me sleep for a day and a half first." Allison turned, shooting one of her best cheeky smiles before kissing the brunette's lips.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma saw the arrow coming out of the corner of her eye. She grabbed Regina's shoulders and turned quickly. She didn't have time to register the fact that the arrow grazed her arm as her mother's harsh, angry voice filled the air.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" She started making her way for Regina.

Emma looked down at the cut on her arm, examining it. Physical pain was still a thing she had to endure on top of emotions. Great.

Regina simply smiled that wicked grin of hers, "Well had you not so _rudely_ interrupted us, I would be doing your daughter."

Emma looked up, wide-eyed. Of course, she didn't know why she was shocked. She should have presumed that Regina would be nothing if not catty with her mother.

Snow glared, "She's still a child!" She was angry with this woman; that this woman had the gall to stand there like everything was all right, like she hadn't taken her daughter's innocence.

"Oh, Snow, I assure, she is no child." Regina smirked, "She is all grown up and knows _exactly_ what she's doing."

"Mother, Regina hasn't tainted my virtue if that's what you're thinking. You can take that back off the list of the reasons you want my true love dead. I've not been a virgin for quite some time."

"That's for damn sure." Alexandra muttered looked at the ground.

"Your true love?" Snow gave her daughter a look, "Emma, my love, you can't feel emotion, how can you possibly think that Regina is your true love?" She didn't give room for Emma to speak, "You want to know why? Because she's put your unfeeling heart under another curse!" She raised her bow, another arrow already in place and aimed for Regina's heart, "Tell me how to break your curses."

"Love to. Can't." Regina moved behind Emma and waved her hand in Snow's general direction, vaporizing her bow and arrow. She stood on her tiptoes and wrapped an arm over her White Princess's shoulder, over Emma's clavicle, her hand taking rest just to the side of the blonde's chest. She gave Snow a wicked grin.

And it was in this moment that a battle cry was heard. The four women turned to find Charming leading the brigade to save the White Princess from the Evil Queen.

Regina merely rolled her eyes and waved her hand. Their weapons all disappeared and Red seemingly had no choice but to turn human from her current wolf form.

She stopped running and stood, looking around trying to figure out what happened. When she saw Hook's hook had been taken from him as had his and everyone else's weapons, she looked down at the Queen all the more miffed. She growled as she got closer.

"Calm down, doggy." Regina waved her hand once more; a bone fell to Red's feet.

Red was unimpressed to say the last.

Alexandra accidentally let out a soft laugh catching no one's attention but the werewolf's. Red looked at Regina and Emma and back to Alexandra wondering what had changed.

"Well." Regina turned to Snow, "Your move. What will the White Queen do? You can't kill me. Not without killing your daughter." She chuckled at Snow's reaction, "Not because of the curse you fool, because your daughter will be left heartbroken." Her smile was all too superior. "You could imprison me, but… that's only if you can catch me. And I'll bet about five minutes after you lock the cell door, I'll be released." She paused a moment, "You could, for once in your life, leave me alone. But then, what satisfaction would you have?" She pushed from Emma and walked around to stand in front of her, "This is quite the dilemma, is it not?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Eva was the first to wake up. She'd never slept so long in her life, but she supposed it was because she'd never been so happy in her life. She would be lying if she said she wasn't waiting for the other shoe to drop, but she decided to relish in her happiness while she could.

She slipped out from under the hold of one Dr. Allison Cameron and crept around the room, finding her robe, before going out to the kitchen.

She was starving. It was basically dinnertime the next day, so she decided she had good reason to be hungry. But dinner didn't sound good. Breakfast did. She moved around the kitchen and after seeing that she didn't have enough Bisquick to make pancakes for two she settled for a couple of hot pockets. Of course, she was going to make sides with them, she wasn't completely hopeless in the kitchen. In fact, she loved cooking. She rooted around her freezer drawers, looking for the pre-diced potatoes—she liked cooking, she didn't like cooking from scratch after she just woke up. She also grabbed bacon and a few eggs.

She had the hot pockets and bacon sitting on plates in her microwave and was moving the potatoes around in the skillet when she felt arms wrap around her middle and the sound of someone inhaling in her ear.

Eva turned and smiled, "I woke up because my stomach was growling. I figured you'd be hungry too."

"I am." Allison confirmed breathing in the wonderful aroma of breakfast, "It smells like breakfast. I love breakfast."

"Are you always goofy when you first wake up?" Eva turned from the potatoes to look at her lover.

The blonde gave the brunette a quick peck on the lips, "Only when I'm content in life and have a person keeping me warm at night."

"So starting now and ending never you'll be goofy when we wake up?"

Allison gave a double take to the brunette in her arms. She watched the blush form on Eva's cheeks and smiled, "Yuh huh." She kissed the other woman's cheek twice before Eva got the hint and moved for an actual kiss.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Charming moved from the pack of people and made his way over to the Evil Queen, though he was sure to keep his distance, "We have you outnumbered, Regina. Do you really think you can defend yourself this time? You obviously didn't even know your shield was down—"

"Based on the performance you saw in my bedroom?" Regina asked arrogantly, "I'll admit I'd no idea my perimeter was infiltrated. I was more than a little distracted. Your daughter—"

Regina didn't get to finish her sentence. Before she knew what was happening, Charming started for her, probably wanting to rip her apart with his bare hands. But what came as an even bigger surprise was the swiftness with which her White Princess moved.

Emma was in front of her, the tip of her sword against her father's throat. "Daddy, you taught me how to wield a sword, do you really want to risk coming closer?"

Charming and his daughter stared each other down, sized each other up, but they didn't speak.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"You guys HAVE to come to the bar tonight. You haven't been in like a month! It's our thing! Come on!" Chris tried as he threw his scrub shirt in his locker. He looked over to Allison first, having a sneaking feeling that he could get her to cave before Eva.

"Well it's not our fault. We've just had things to do…" Allison looked away guiltily.

Serena gave the other blonde woman a look, "Making sex is not an excuse to bail on your friends."

Eva gave Serena the same look that her friend gave her girlfriend, "Last time was our one month. That was important."

Serena merely rolled her eyes, "Fine. But no more _important_ _sex_ reasons. We still haven't even had those nachos."

Allison looked at Serena, "What is with you and the nachos?"

"Hey, it's not only her…" Chris said, "And yes, if you've forgotten Eva and for your information Allison, they are that good."

Allison looked over to Eva, silently asking what she wanted to do.

"We'll meet you there." Eva gave the other two a look.

"Yeah? Alright!" Chris smiled approvingly.

Allison decided it was time to give the other two a hard time, "You know this won't be a double date… I mean, Proctor and Tuck are still coming…"

Both Chris and Serena were unimpressed with Allison's words. They stalked out of the locker room as they were both fully dressed.

Eva walked over to her lover, "Now, that wasn't very nice." She had a grin on her face.

Allison merely smiled her own cheeky smile, "Sometimes I can't help myself."

"Mhmm." Eva obviously did not believe her.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Emma! Emma." Regina pulled on Emma's shoulder after she saw what exactly Emma was doing for her, after she saw that Emma was willing to fight her own parents for her. "No. Put it down." She pushed on Emma's arm, trying to get her to lower her sword.

"Charming! Back up." Snow pulled on Charming's arm after she saw her daughter pull her sword. She watched Regina pull on Emma just as she pulled on Charming. There was something different; something had changed Regina over the last 20 years. And it obviously wasn't death; it was deeper than that. Then she looked at her daughter.

Emma listened to Regina and lowered her sword but not without catching her mother's eyes. She tore her eyes from the other woman and sheathed her sword once more, trying to distract herself from the intense stare.

Snow watched on with an acute awareness of what she was witnessing.

Emma could feel. Emma could love. Emma loved her enemy. Emma was _in_ _love_ with her enemy, with one Regina Mills.

What's worse is Regina was so obviously in love with her daughter as well.

How could this have possibly happened?

**AN: Thoughts and feels?**


End file.
